Rita Allen Foundation Supported Research Details Consequences of Kansas’ Lifetime Property Tax Exemptions on Local School Districts
Deemed one of the top six journalism collaborations of 2017 by MediaShift, an investigation by Flatland (Kansas City public TV station KCPT’s digital magazine) and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting shed light on the consequences of Kansas’ efforts to attract wind farms via lifetime property tax exemptions.
They looked deeply at how those exemptions left local school districts starving for revenue.
By the end of the investigation, Kirstin McCudden, managing editor of digital and multimedia content for Kansas City PBS, said the non-profits found that such exemptions left roughly $630 million in Kansas wind farm equipment untaxed, depriving 24 rural counties of about $82 million in additional revenue each year. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, she added, helped to expand the focus to the broader perspective, where federal tax cuts spurred an increase in foreign investment into wind farms across the country....