Kansas City Group attempts to block taxpayer subsidies for Wal-Mart strip mall

Kansas City Group Strives to Preempt Wasteful Taxpayer Subsidies
Recently commissioned study shows subsidies are helping major corporations and wealthy districts, not poor neighborhoods.


Published January 18, 2007



In spring of 2005, the Kansas City area ReclaimDemocracy.org chapter and other local organizations fought to stop a $27.5 million Tax Increment Financing (TIF) package for a shopping center redevelopment anchored by a Wal-Mart.

Editor's Note: TIFs are a form of subsidy offered as tax breaks over years, rather than an up-front payout. Misuse of TIFs is a widespread problem. Our friends at Good Jobs First have many excellent resources for scrutinizing TIFs and stopping taxpayer rip-offs.
But the TIF application and approval process lacked transparency and accountability, and by the time citizens mounted opposition, the TIF was a “done deal.”

To work toward stopping subsides that lack clear public benefit, our KC chapter commissioned economists at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to scrutinize city TIF projects and report on their use for a Citizen's Guide to TIF and campaign to restore public power over the process.

The resulting study, "Uneven Patchwork: Tax Increment Financing in Kansas City," was authored by Dr. Michael Kelsay, a professor of economics at UMKC, and released January 17, 2006. The full report is available at reclaimdemocracy.org/rdc/kc/tif_report_1.07.pdf.

Among the major findings is a pattern of awarding TIF projects to the city's most economically advantaged areas and bypassing those most in need of economic development. While the initial purpose of TIF was to encourage development of blighted areas, only 14% of the TIF projects have been approved in the two most blighted of six city districts. Tens of millions of dollars are awarded annually for TIF projects in Kansas City, and the numbers are growing: since one TIF project was implemented in 1984, the numbers grew to 21 in 1994, and a whopping 52 in 2004. .....(more)

The complete article is at: http://reclaimdemocracy.org/rdc/kc/kc_tif_study.php

from the report


Amazing. Our society tends to help those who dominate it.

I stand flummoxed.

Good luck to them.

All our freedom asks for is our active participation.