By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Kansas state Republican senator Roger Marshall is touring the state talking to residents about one of the largest tax relief measures enacted in history.
The Working Families Tax Cuts helps to reduce the federal taxes on tips, overtime pay, and social security benefits. It also helps deliver relief to families through an expanded Child Tax Credit.
Marshall says the tax credits are aimed at helping small businesses as childcare remains on top of many people's minds.
“Small businesses now can expand that up to $600,000 of expenses towards the childcare of their employees as well, and they can work in conjunction with other employees as they set up some type of childcare,” Marshall tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, this is really tailored towards small businesses being able to help out their employees for that childcare that they need.”
Marshall says also with the tax cuts, tax refunds are estimated to be higher, which should help as people continue to recover from rising inflation costs
"So, in the previous administration, those four years we saw housing go up 50%, we saw healthcare and childcare and property taxes and property insurance go up 50%, groceries probably went up 25 to 30% anyway,” Marshall explains. “So even though we’ve stabilized the inflation now, we’re down about 2.5%, but inflation is cumulative and just now are people, young families, starting to catch up, and real wages are indeed up, so wages are increasing faster than inflation now, but it’s going to take us awhile to dig out of this huge hole that was left to us from the previous administration.”
The legislation also adds a School Choice Tax Credit. Marshall says one thing he's heard is complaints about the public school system and people wanting a choice
"So, one of the things we did is made it easier to make a donation to a private school of your choice, and get a tax credit for it, so hopefully that will increase the opportunity for more and more Kansas students to have this school choice,” Marshall says. “I hope it increases competition and I hope the public-school systems respond and go back to some more of the basics and focus on the things that are really important.”
During his tour of the state, Marshall is hitting all four corners, as the tour began in northeast Kansas last week.
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