Kansas Senate Bill SB179

Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/4/25
• Refer: 2/5/25

Caption

Establishing a child income tax credit.

Summary

SB 179 would create a refundable Kansas child tax credit for resident individual taxpayers beginning in tax year 2025. The credit is available for each qualifying child under age 6 who lives with the taxpayer for more than half the year, meets relationship and support tests, and is not claimed by another taxpayer. The credit amount is tiered by Kansas adjusted gross income, starting at $600 per child for taxpayers with income up to $25,000 and phasing down through several brackets to $25 per child for taxpayers with income above $350,000. The bill also provides that the credit is refundable, meaning taxpayers can receive a payment even if the credit exceeds their income tax liability. For tax years after 2025, both the income thresholds and credit amounts would be adjusted annually for inflation using the federal cost-of-living adjustment. Married taxpayers filing separately would each be limited to one-half of the credit they could have claimed on a joint return. The secretary of revenue would be required to produce an annual report on the credit’s usage, cost, and effectiveness and submit it to the tax committees of both chambers.

Impact

SB 179 would amend the Kansas income tax act by adding a new refundable child tax credit section and making it part of the state income tax code. It would directly affect resident individual taxpayers with young children, especially lower- and middle-income families, and would require the Department of Revenue to administer the credit, track claims, and report annually on fiscal and policy impacts. The bill would also create an ongoing inflation adjustment mechanism for the credit’s income thresholds and dollar amounts.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill faced significant resistance in the Senate, as a motion to withdraw it from committee failed on a 10-28 vote. No committee transcript is available, so there is no recorded debate to indicate support or opposition arguments in detail. Based on the bill’s structure, it appears designed as a family tax relief measure, but the vote indicates it did not have broad consensus at that stage.

Contention

The main points of contention likely involve the fiscal cost of a refundable tax credit, the extent to which the credit should be targeted by income, and whether the state should create a new ongoing entitlement in the tax code. The bill’s age limit of under 6 years old and its refundable design may also be debated, since those features concentrate benefits on families with very young children and can increase state revenue losses. The failed committee-withdrawal vote indicates at least some senators opposed advancing the measure, though no transcript is available to identify specific arguments or sponsors’ responses.