Kansas governor's tax incentive plan to boost population in rural areas is questioned

UPDATE, July 23: Nebraska legislators are studying whether to offer similar incentives, JoAnne Young of the Lincoln Journal Star reports.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's plan to rebuild rural Kansas by offering tax breaks and student loan subsidies that we reported about in April is being scrutinized. Some experts believe state tax breaks are not enough to encourage non-Kansans to move to the designated "rural opportunity zones," and some community leaders disagree with using tax money to repay individual student loans as part of the plan, Brad Cooper of the Kansas City Star reports.

The plan would save residents who move from another state to one of 50 rural counties or rural opportunity zones an estimated $1,800 in state taxes over five years, Cooper reports. Kansans and non-Kansans who move to 23 of the 50 eligible counties may also have 20 percent of outstanding student loans paid by state and county matching funds.

"I have a hard time seeing this as being immediately persuasive in setting in motion a large population movement," Mike White, a demographer at Brown University, told Cooper. "In the prime working ages, people not only emphasize issues like taxes . . . but also the availability of employment and the quality and growth prospects for that employment."

Commissioner Gene Helms of Washington County, which has not agreed to the student loan subsidies, told Cooper, "It's not fair to use general tax dollars to supplement student loans. I think they can pay for it themselves if they're making a living on their own." (Read more) To read yesterday's editorial in The Wichita Eagle about Brownback's plan, click here.