Committee on Taxation hears bill to extend sales-tax exemption to community pharmacies serving medically underserved Kansans

The Committee on Taxation heard House Bill 2,081, which would expand an existing sales-tax exemption to include community pharmacies that provide services to medically underserved individuals and families, a representative from the reviser’s office summarized.

Under the bill, the existing sales-tax exemption in statute cited in the hearing (79-3606(c), as read into the record) that applies to primary care clinics would be extended to community pharmacies that meet the bill’s requirements. The bill would exempt purchases made by qualifying community pharmacies and purchases made by a contractor for facility construction for those pharmacies.

The measure matters, advocates said, because it would lower operating and capital costs for nonprofit and free pharmacies that serve low-income and rural Kansans. Amber Beck, executive director of Karen House, told the committee her organization opened a statewide community pharmacy to serve medically underserved and underinsured people and that the operation relies heavily…