Kansas may offer an incentive to lure former residents back to the rural parts of the state. The state legislature is considering offering a state income tax exemption if the resident has been gone for five years and commits to settling in one of 40 Kansas counties hit by steep population losses, reports Tim Carpenter of the Topeka Capital-Journal. The state is also considering a college loan repayment program to former Kansans who graduated from an out-of-state college offering $15,000 in debt payments — if they live in a Kansas county included in the rural enterprise zone.
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback initiated the idea because he "agonizes over depletion of rural Kansas," writes Carpenter. Brownback grew up in the tiny town of Parker and served as Kansas agriculture secretary before representing the state in Congress. Passage of the bill would reduce general state tax revenue by an estimated $1.1 million in the upcoming fiscal year and $3.3 million in the next year. The tax break would be limited to 1,500 people. The student loan repayments would be shared by the state and a county that joined the program voluntarily, up to a maximum individual benefit of $15,000. (Read more)
Republican Gov. Sam Brownback initiated the idea because he "agonizes over depletion of rural Kansas," writes Carpenter. Brownback grew up in the tiny town of Parker and served as Kansas agriculture secretary before representing the state in Congress. Passage of the bill would reduce general state tax revenue by an estimated $1.1 million in the upcoming fiscal year and $3.3 million in the next year. The tax break would be limited to 1,500 people. The student loan repayments would be shared by the state and a county that joined the program voluntarily, up to a maximum individual benefit of $15,000. (Read more)
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