Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has set aside money for a tax rebate for residents who filed their 2020 tax returns last year — if lawmakers approve.
On Thursday, Kelly announced a special Governor’s Budget Amendment to set up a one-time, $250 rebate for individual tax filers. residents who filed as married and filed jointly will receive a $500 direct payment.
All told, this involves about $460 million. Governor Kelly says this uses one-time revenues from the state’s current budget surplus, so it will not affect the state’s ability to either “collect revenues that fund critical services or eliminate the state’s food sales tax,” a goal of the governor’s before this session is done.
The governor made the announcement after asking lawmakers to put the rebate into the budget, but both the House and Senate decided against that step. The governor’s plan comes after the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group said the state’s revenue continues above prior expectations. The Estimating Group says revenues will likely be some $340 million above projections for the next two fiscal years, with a better than $3 billion budget surplus now expected by the end of fiscal 2023 — or June of next year.
