Kansas Senate Bill SB296

Kansas 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Filed/Introduced: 8/8/26
• Introduced: 3/12/25
• Refer: 3/13/25

Caption

Eliminating certain tax credits, exemptions, incentives, refunds and limitations, a transitional adjustment, a checkoff and a restoration program administered by the secretary that have expired or are no longer applicable.

Summary

SB 296 is a tax cleanup and repeal bill that removes a large number of Kansas tax provisions that have expired, sunsetted, or are otherwise no longer operative. It amends several statutes in the tax, revenue, and economic development code to delete obsolete references, update cross-references, and conform related language. The bill also repeals a long list of specific credits, exemptions, refunds, deductions, and incentive programs, including provisions tied to older economic development, energy, oil and gas, and individual income tax modifications. A major portion of the bill is devoted to striking outdated incentive statutes from the Kansas Statutes Annotated. These include provisions related to the economic revitalization and reinvestment act, integrated coal gasification power plant property tax treatment, oil lease property tax refunds, various income tax modifications, and several business investment credits. The bill also makes technical changes to the Kansas adjusted gross income statute to remove references to expired deductions and credits, while preserving current provisions such as social security subtraction treatment, first-time home buyer savings accounts, and adoption savings accounts. In addition, it repeals a number of statutes that no longer have practical effect and updates the statutory framework accordingly.

Impact

SB 296 would reduce the number of obsolete or inactive tax incentives in Kansas law and simplify the tax code by repealing expired provisions and cleaning up cross-references. Its practical effect is primarily structural: it does not create new tax benefits, but instead removes dormant programs and clarifies the statutes that remain in force. The bill affects the Department of Revenue, the Department of Commerce, the Kansas Development Finance Authority, taxpayers claiming certain credits or refunds, and any entities that might otherwise rely on outdated incentive statutes.

Sentiment

Based on the bill title and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears neutral to favorable as a housekeeping measure. The bill is framed as a technical cleanup bill rather than a policy expansion, which typically draws limited controversy because it targets expired or no-longer-applicable provisions. The available context does not show organized opposition or support, but the structure of the bill suggests it is intended to streamline and modernize the tax code.

Contention

The main point of contention, if any, would likely be the repeal of incentive provisions that once supported business investment, energy projects, or specialized tax refunds, because those repeals can be viewed as reducing future policy flexibility even when the programs are inactive. Stakeholders connected to manufacturing, aviation, wind and solar energy, oil and gas, and economic development finance could be attentive to whether any repealed provisions still have residual value or interpretive significance. Another possible issue is the bill’s broad repeal approach, which may raise questions about whether all affected statutes are truly obsolete or whether any should be retained for transition, litigation, or administrative purposes.