The Great Property Tax Shift

The Great Property Tax Shift is here!!! The bar graph above shows in 1989 that 47% of Johnson County ‘s total property tax revenue came from residential real estate. Today that number is at least 70%. Yes, the great shift has arrived and home owners are being crushed. How has this happened? We the People of Kansas passed two constitutional amendments in 1986:

Reclassification and Equalization

Economic Development

Ah, yes, economic development!!! THE ANSWER!! As advertised in 1986, by those who would benefit from tax incentives, was the BIG LIE that by using economic development “tools” (stealing our tax dollars and giving them to billionaires) we would broaden our tax base and lower EVERONE’s taxes (property, sales and income taxes). I believe that goes beyond the Big Lie category to That’s one BIG WHOPPER of a LIE category.

Here are a couple of examples in the Johnson County/Wyandotte area: number one goes to the 12^th richest family in America, a well-connected welfare recipient, the Hunt family, $7 billion of YOUR tax dollars going to fund the Chiefs’ stadium ($4 billion in Star Bonds and $3 billion estimated interest over 30 YEARS!!). Number two goes to Van Trust Real Estate which received a sweet Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) deal at State Line Road and College (Hallbrook North). The blight that is a small portion of the property is in a 100-year flood plain. Stretching the definition of blight to the breaking point in my opinion.

So, what is the developers take on this deal: $88.7 million in retained property taxes through the TIF to use for horizontal construction costs, $5.6 million Community Improvement District, $14.6 million Industrial Revenue Bond for sales tax exemption and $16.1 million Transient Guest Tax totals a cool $125 million of YOUR tax dollars going to the pockets of the developers.

Snake Oil Salesmen could learn from Kansas developers. And then add the required “but for” TIF stipulation, to prove that if the corporate welfare was not available this project would never happen. Barf bag please!!!

I’ll throw in one more example for good measure, in June of 2023, CNANO, a Chinese firm was given a 10-year Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) which provided sales tax exemption on construction materials and a property tax abatement on their brand new 333,000 sq ft facility in New Century AirCenter. I was the only commissioner who voted no on the 87% tax giveaway abatement of 30 cents a square foot. For a 2,000 square foot home that rate would equal a total annual property tax bill of $600. Can you imagine that, $600?? For a foreign adversary Chinese Company, sweet tax deals, but for Kansas homeowners, NOTHING!!!

While our local property and sales taxes are raided by the well-connected, frequent contributors to campaign coffers, state and local governments continue to spend like drunken sailors. Folks, that’s called a double whammy, stealing our tax dollars and increasing spending, both of which are taxing us out of our homes.

Yes, we have a serious spending problem at the state and local level in Kansas exacerbated significantly by COVID money flowing into state and local coffers from the Biden administration. As a Johnson County Commissioner serving during COVID – I refused to wear a mask, refused the shot and voted NO on closing schools and businesses – I can personally attest to the bloat these funds caused in Johnson County by providing seed money for NEW programs or expansion of staff in existing programs. Every time staff came with another allocation of COVID funds which required expansion of staff, the commissioners were told, if federal funds are not allocated for these positions they may be terminated. Sure, those folks are going to be let go and Phoenix has a terrific beach on the Pacific Ocean.

Johnson County received $235 million in COVID money while the Sedgwick County COVID funds check was $100.2 million. That is only part of the problem, it goes much, much deeper. At all levels of local and state government, bloat has become the norm. In Johnson County our budget far more than doubled from $855 million in 2015 to the current budget of $1.97 billion. I could go on and on giving examples of budgets soaring, but you are already quite aware of this blight of bloat which is reflected in your sky-high property tax bills.

Meanwhile the old finger pointing game continues. State legislators blame the locals, the locals blame the state all the while, you and I are caught in the middle and NO ONE WILL accept responsibility!!!

What to do? As your next Kansas Governor I will introduce legislation to:

1. Prohibit local governments from hiring lobbyists to go to Topeka. The elected officials can go lobby if it’s that important to get more money from the state.

2. Sunset Star Bonds, TIFs, IRBs, HPIP and PEAK programs as a start. And investigate the contracts which include promises that never bear fruit (as in expanding the tax base to lower taxes for all of us) along with investigating the supposed blight and the fairy tales of “but for”.

3. Stop handing out all tax exemptions and all tax credits (property, sales tax and income taxes).

4. Eliminate property taxes. This will require REAL cuts in budgets (how about closing the State Department of Education – $300 million a year – and pass the prohibition of state funds being used to provide services for illegal aliens – $600 million a year), plus extensive audits of Snap and Medicaid, two of the most favorite programs for chronic fraudsters.

Meanwhile, you, the local voter, MUST VOTE in off year elections and throw the bums out!! Otherwise, the incumbents will continue to increase spending and hand out egregious billionaire welfare tax incentives, at the state and local level. Also demand all elections are partisan elections in order to out the Democrats hiding their identity.

I can sound the alarm, but the responsibility lies with you going to school board meetings, city council meetings and county commission meetings to fight tooth and nail against EVERY expenditure increase scheme liberal bureaucrats and our elected officials propose.

The call has been sent; the ball is in your court.

God Bless, Keep your Eyes on Jesus,
Charlotte O’Hara
Republican for Kansas Governor, 2026