property tax

Tax breaks for wind power mean little new revenue for rural schools

Wind turbine companies "have lobbied for low or non-existent property taxes and steep depreciation schedules," meaning little new revenue for rural school districts from the giant windmills that dot the Midwest and Plains, says the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Flatland, a part of Kansas City PBS. In an introduction to four stories about wind power, the MCIR and Flatland say their multi-state collaboration uncovered "how states like Kansas have given away the wind farm."

Tax reform is great, say ag experts, if farmers can keep their breaks

President Trump won election partly on his promise of tax reform, boosting the prospects for the first comprehensive overhaul of the tax code in three decades. Witnesses at a House Agriculture Committee hearing said any reform package must retain benefits now available to farmers, such as deducting interest paid on loans and use of cash accounting to calculate income.