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Kansas Policy Institute
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A public opinion poll conducted last month shows that self-described conservatives, moderates, and liberals overwhelmingly want a constitutional limit on assessed valuations to protect them from unaffordable property tax hikes. No surprise there. The question is whether the candidates for the Kansas House of Representatives—to say nothing of other candidates or Senators not on the []
The latest bad idea from the global policy class is dressed up as compassion: the world needs less growth. That may sell at international conferences. It should not sell in Kansas. In a recent piece for the American Institute for Economic Research’s The Daily Economy,“The Poverty of the UN’s Degrowth Agenda,” I explained why the push []
The 2026 A–F Grading of Kansas Schools is here. A-F Grading provides Kansans with a clear, easy-to-understand snapshot of academic performance statewide. The A–F system translates complex state assessment data into familiar letter grades, offering a transparent alternative to Kansas’ official school report cards, which often rely on technical labels that are difficult for parents []
The 1 affordability issue facing many Kansans is property tax increases that are literally taxing some people out of their homes and prompting some small businesses to close. The average taxable assessed home value jumped 40 over the last four years, resulting in a 31 average property tax increase. Meanwhile, real (inflation-adjusted) per capita personal []
Kansas now has more rural hospitals at immediate risk of closure than any other state, according to KAKE News. That is serious. Rural healthcare access matters. Families should not have to drive for hours to access emergency care. But if Kansas treats this only as a hospital funding problem, it will miss the real issue. []
I recently was talking with someone who said wealthy people should pay their fair share of income taxes, and I asked, “What do you mean by ‘fair share ‘?” He struggled with the question, so I said, “Do you mean that a group of people with 50 of all the income should pay 50 of []
My earlier Kansas Policy Institute piece, “Kansas Should Welcome AI Growth, Not Zone It Away”, drew a lot of feedback. Much of it came down to four concerns: water, electricity, zoning, and whether data centers really help local communities. Those are fair questions. Big projects often face scrutiny, and Kansans deserve answers about how new []
Kansas wheat country is facing a hard year. Drought has damaged winter wheat across the Plains, and the latest crop tour estimates point to a much smaller harvest than last year. That should matter to every Kansas policymaker, not just farmers. For many farm families in Kansas, this is not an abstract policy discussion. A []
Kansas wheat country is facing a hard year. Drought has damaged winter wheat across the Plains, and the latest crop tour estimates point to a much smaller harvest than last year. That should matter to every Kansas policymaker, not just farmers. The 2026 Wheat Quality Council tour projected Kansas wheat yield potential at 38.9 bushels []
Some Kansas legislators opposed property tax assessment limits because they believe there is nothing wrong with appraisals—even House Speaker Dan Hawkins said, “property appraisals are correct“—but Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA) resolutions reveal a massive problem. Data we received from an Open Records request show that 87 of appeals over the last six years were granted []
