Tax-Increment Financing in Post-tornado Joplin

Corporate Welfare | April 11, 2017

By Patrick Tuohey | Read Time 1 min

The tornado that devastated Joplin, Missouri in May of 2011 killed 161 people and injured over 1,000. Property damage resulted in insurance claims of over $2 billion and cost residents and businesses about $34 million in assessed property evaluation.

In an effort to facilitate reconstruction, city leaders used a tax-increment financing (TIF) program. The people of Joplin rebuilt their town with remarkable speed, and by 2015, total assessed property value in Joplin exceeded the pre-tornado level. But if anything, they did so in spite of—not because of—the TIF program.

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About the Author

Patrick Tuohey

Patrick Tuohey is a senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute and co-founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project. Both organizations aim to deliver the best in public policy research from around the country to local leaders, communities and voters. He works to foster understanding of the consequences — often unintended — of policies regarding economic development, taxation, education, policing, and transportation. In 2021, Patrick served as a fellow of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Yorktown Foundation for Public Policy in Virginia and also a regular opinion columnist for The Kansas City Star. Previously, Patrick served as the director of municipal policy at the Show-Me Institute. Patrick’s essays have been published widely in print and online including in newspapers around the country, The Hill, and Reason Magazine. His essays on economic development, education, and policing have been published in the three most recent editions of the Greater Kansas City Urban League’s “State of Black Kansas City.” Patrick’s work on the intersection of those topics spurred parents and activists to oppose economic development incentive projects where they are not needed and was a contributing factor in the KCPT documentary, “Our Divided City” about crime, urban blight, and public policy in Kansas City. Patrick received a bachelor’s degree from Boston College in 1993.

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