Would a tax break lure you to rural Kansas?

sodbuster · July 25, 2011, 01:35:48 PM

Would a tax break lure you to rural Kansas?

If you ever get tired of traffic, crowds and the other stresses of urban life, you may dream of moving somewhere for a smaller, simpler, quieter life.
Kansas has a deal for you.

In an attempt to draw new residents to rural counties with shrinking populations, Kansas has put together an incentive package for people who agree to move to designated "rural opportunity zones" from another state.

The deals include a five-year vacation from state income taxes and a chance to get up to $15,000 in student loans paid off, if you stay five years. The average Kansas pays $1,800 a year in state income tax.

"This is a risk-free opportunity for us to draw attention to parts of our state that are losing population and offer another incentive to get people to move to Kansas," said Sherriene Jones-Sontag, spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback, in the Kansas City Star.
But is it enough to draw any new residents?A handful of other rural areas, including some in Kansas, offer incentives to attract new residents, including free land, utility-bill forgiveness and tax abatement.

Even some residents of the Kansas counties that want to lure new residents are skeptical that the financial incentives are enough to woo new people.
"It's unproven," Republic County Commisioner Frank Rytych said in the Star. "It's not that we're against the program. We don't know that it's going to pan out OK. We don't want to get caught holding the bag."

One problem with the incentives is that income tax doesn't necessarily motivate many people to move.

"People simply do not make migration decisions based on income-tax issues," Laszlo Kulcsar, a demographer at Kansas State University, said in the Star.
The Census Bureau recently reported that the most common reason people had for moving in 2010 was to find a better, cheaper or different house, followed by family and employment reasons. Taxes were not anywhere on the list, and only 11% of those who moved went to another state.

Kansas officials have said that they want to compete against popular states that have no income tax, such as Florida, Tennessee and Texas. But that raises the question of why someone would choose a small town in Kansas over popular areas of Texas, Tennessee and Florida.

http://realestate.msn.com/blogs/listedblogpost.aspx?post=cf944e30-94ef-471f-a916-993de00b57ab&GT1=35006

Wilma · July 25, 2011, 01:42:02 PM

I think that a good paying job would have to be the first priority to make the move. What good will the tax break be if there is no income to tax? The whole thing just doesn't make sense. Does it even sound good? Just another of Brownback's gimmicks to make you think that he is thinking about rural Kansas when he has already bashed most of it.

sodbuster · July 25, 2011, 01:44:26 PM

Here are the 50 Kansas Counties that fall under the Rural Opportunity Zones:

Barber, Chautauqua, Cheyenne, Clark, Cloud, Comanche, Decatur, Edwards, Elk, Gove, Graham, Greeley, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Hodgeman, Jewell, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Lane, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Mitchell, Morton, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Thomas, Trego, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson and Woodson.

sodbuster · July 25, 2011, 01:47:19 PM

More Info at Kansas Dept. of Commerce

http://www.kansascommerce.com/index.aspx?NID=320

srkruzich · July 25, 2011, 01:48:56 PM

Quote from: sodbuster on July 25, 2011, 01:44:26 PM
Here are the 50 Kansas Counties that fall under the Rural Opportunity Zones:

Barber, Chautauqua, Cheyenne, Clark, Cloud, Comanche, Decatur, Edwards, Elk, Gove, Graham, Greeley, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Hodgeman, Jewell, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Lane, Lincoln, Logan, Marion, Mitchell, Morton, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Rawlins, Republic, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Scott, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Thomas, Trego, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson and Woodson.

LOL if they think that folks are going to move here to elk for the tax breaks got another thing to think about! LOL....
What tax break :O..... what jobs are there to even make money to pay taxes with!

Lookatmeknow!! · July 25, 2011, 02:17:05 PM

Good thing you live in Greenwood county then isn't it Steve!! Why did you move out here then?? You are always trashing it and my opinion is if you don't like it leave!! I live here because I have lived in bigger towns and been in the bigger schools for observation and such, and they have nothing on the smaller ones in Elk or bordering towns!! I live here because, well I was born and raised in Severy!! I went to school in Howard, and I love Howard. Ok, well my husband does have a farm and we live and work on it, but it fit my life and it's the kind of life and place I want my girls to grow up!! They couldn't go out the back door and chase their chickens, feed their bucket calf, or drive a four wheeler in the bigger towns!!

I LOVE ELK COUNTY !!!!!!!!

sodbuster · July 25, 2011, 04:00:48 PM

Would free land help you decide?

Kansas is a great place to live, play, work or own a business. We would like you to consider moving to
Kansas and have created incentives to draw you to our wonderful state.

Several communities in Kansas are offering free land and other incentives.
Our goal is to help our rural areas sustain and grow economically.
We welcome you to take a look at the various communities.
Click on the city name on the map above and you will be redirected to their website.
Each community's incentives are unique and offered by local government
and/or development groups.

http://kansasfreeland.com/

srkruzich · July 25, 2011, 08:49:11 PM

Quote from: Lookatmeknow!! on July 25, 2011, 02:17:05 PM
Good thing you live in Greenwood county then isn't it Steve!! Why did you move out here then?? You are always trashing it and my opinion is if you don't like it leave!!

Trash? Nope i don't trash it. I do have a preference, and i intend to turn my place into what i prefer. I dont' like it as it is.

QuoteI live here because I have lived in bigger towns and been in the bigger schools for observation and such, and they have nothing on the smaller ones in Elk or bordering towns!! I live here because, well I was born and raised in Severy!! I went to school in Howard, and I love Howard. Ok, well my husband does have a farm and we live and work on it, but it fit my life and it's the kind of life and place I want my girls to grow up!! They couldn't go out the back door and chase their chickens, feed their bucket calf, or drive a four wheeler in the bigger towns!!

I LOVE ELK COUNTY !!!!!!!!

well thats good things about it just like i love that usually no one bothers me here. Have had a couple that did and they got the message real fast to back off and stay away.

It has its good points as well as bad point. So does every other place. Sure wish God had blessed the area with some mountains though. Miss that cool breeze that usually comes off them. I can think of far far worse places to live.

As far as the government, i'll call it like i see it. Elk CO greenwood co, if its corrupt, i'm not going to hold my tongue about it. IF its a good government i'll praise it as well but that my friend has yet to happen. The day that a county/town government runs according to constitutional principles then you bet i'll applaud it! Until then i don't care where it is, i'm going to keep turning up heat.
After all if no one does anything about it then they just continue on business as usual.
Besides you don't know what i own.

srkruzich · July 25, 2011, 08:50:45 PM

Quote from: sodbuster on July 25, 2011, 04:00:48 PM
Would free land help you decide?

Kansas is a great place to live, play, work or own a business. We would like you to consider moving to
Kansas and have created incentives to draw you to our wonderful state.

Several communities in Kansas are offering free land and other incentives.
Our goal is to help our rural areas sustain and grow economically.
We welcome you to take a look at the various communities.
Click on the city name on the map above and you will be redirected to their website.
Each community's incentives are unique and offered by local government
and/or development groups.

http://kansasfreeland.com/

ROTFL NOPE not at all, not with the restrictions they place on it! that offer has been out for a couple decades. Very few people even bother to jump on it and i know of one individual that did and got royally screwed over in eureka when they did. They took the deal, paid all the fees and taxes and the city changed the rules after they bought into it.

sodbuster · July 25, 2011, 09:00:24 PM

Steve I don't think those programs are meant for you. You already live in a ROZ county. You moved there with less incentive than is provided by those two programs. I think you are just trying to keep people from moving to Kansas and populating\driving taxes up in your town. I can appreciate that. I am trying to get people from California to move to Kansas to get us back to our rural roots. It would be easier for me to move to Howard, but I just had more than enough of shoveling snow in my life.

David