Lyon County’s sales tax bill passed through the Kansas House of Representatives Wednesday morning and now will head to the Senate.
The bill, House Bill 2026, was combined with Rawlins County. Both Lyon and Rawlins County exceed their one percent sales tax cap.
On Aug. 5, voters in Lyon County approved a county-wide 1 percent sales tax, which the county was to begin Oct. 1.
Despite overwhelming voter approval, the sales tax was negated by the state shortly after its passage by voters. The county already has a 1/2 percent sales tax in effect. Lyon County learned from the Department of Revenue that the tax could not be collected because it exceeds the 1 percent sales tax cap for the county. The county had two options to deal with the sales tax: re-voting the tax to stay within the 1 percent cap or asking for special legislation to gain permission to collect more than the 1 percent cap.
House Bill 2026 states that the county may fix the rate at 1.5 percent. For full text of the bill, go to http://www.kslegislature.org/bills/2010/2026.pdf.