Topeka ? Kansas wage earners will pay less of their income in state taxes this year, but public employees will pay more into their retirement accounts.

Those are just a couple of the policy changes that took effect Thursday as a result of laws enacted in recent years by the Kansas Legislature.

In 2012 and 2013, lawmakers enacted sweeping cuts in state income taxes, eliminating them altogether for many businesses. But there were also cuts in tax rates for individuals and married couples that earn income from other sources.

This year, the tax rate goes down two-tenths of a point, to 4.6 percent, on taxable income above $15,000 for an individual, or above $30,000 for a married couple filing jointly.

That’s a savings of $30 for an individual with $30,000 in taxable income and a savings of $40 for a married couple filing jointly with taxable income of $50,000.

But most people who work for state or local governments, including school districts, will see more of their paychecks going into the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.

For active KPERS members who were hired before July 1, 2009, employee contribution rates go up a percentage point to 6 percent. That’s the last of two scheduled increases resulting from a KPERS overhaul bill enacted in 2012.

Meanwhile, new employees hired after Jan. 1, 2015, will go into a new kind of retirement program called a “cash management” plan.

That’s a kind of hybrid between a traditional defined benefit plan, where an individual receives a guaranteed monthly payment for life after retirement, and a 401(k) plan, where the benefit is limited by how much the person had saved during his or her working years.

Other new laws taking effect Jan. 1 include:

• Large health insurance plans are now required to cover diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder.

• Three new kinds of “distinctive” license plates are available to Kansas vehicle owners. People can now buy license plates with a “Donate Life” logo, which benefits the Midwest Transplant Network. They can also buy plates with logos for the Kansas Horse Council and Rotary International. The additional money charged for distinctive plates goes to support those organizations.

• Mortgage registration taxes are lower this year and are being gradually phased out. The rate this year is 0.2 percent of the principal debt or obligation secured by the mortgage, down from 0.26 percent. The tax is being phased out and repealed altogether in 2019.

• A new death gratuity benefit of $100,000 is available for eligible Kansas military service members if their deaths occur during a federal government shutdown and federal funds are not available.

• And electric vehicles are no longer classified separately for vehicle registrations. They are now classified by weight, in the same category as other vehicles, with a standard registration fee of $30 for all but the heaviest passenger vehicles.