NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For Democratic Rep. Jason Probst, there are a couple of things he still wants to get done in Topeka.
"In a normal year, I would probably tell you Medicaid expansion, that's still very important to me," Probst said. "I would say the number one thing I've been hearing from people is property taxes. We started this conversation two years ago. A bunch of us Democrats got together and had this conversation about, what can we do about property taxes? We did some things last year. We passed the golden years property tax freeze. I think that will help some people. We also raised the exemption, I think from $20,000 to $40,000 on houses."
He believes that residential property is paying more than it should in the property tax mix.
"I am hearing more and more about seniors who are getting priced out of their homes from property taxes," Probst said. "I think anything we can look at, raising the income threshold on the homestead property rebate program would be good. We have to take action to make sure that people are able to stay in their homes and afford their property taxes."
The legislature doesn't always follow its own rules when it comes to taxation, either.
"The legislature will pass a law that says, we shall do this and then we do a budget proviso that says, oh, no, we won't and we just won't do it this year," Probst said. "Sometimes that happens for 20 years. We just don't fund the things that we tell the public we're going to fund. I think that's really bad practice to say, we're going to do something and then not do it. If we can't do it and we find we can't do it, it's probably time to reexamine the law in the first place."
Find out more about Probst's campaign at probstforkansas.com.
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