Kansas committee hears proposal to base countywide sales-tax shares on assessed value instead of tax levies

The House Committee on Taxation held a hearing on House Bill 2,377, a proposal to change the formula that divides countywide retailer sales-tax revenue between counties and cities by using each jurisdiction’s assessed valuation rather than the property tax levies reported in the previous year.

The reviser told the committee the bill would amend the statute governing countywide retailer sales tax so that the portion of revenue apportioned among a county and cities would be based on total assessed valuations used to calculate ad valorem property taxes in the preceding year instead of the ‘‘total tangible property tax levies’’ previously used.

Why it matters: proponents said the change would remove a perverse incentive that penalizes counties and cities that lower their mill levies. Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell told the committee that, after lowering its mill levy, Sedgwick lost about $700,000 in countywide…