The Incentives Study that Wasn’t

Corporate Welfare |
By Patrick Tuohey | Read Time 2 min

I’ve published a number of pieces about the 2018 Kansas City incentives study. Links to those are below. All the clues that the study would simply support existing policy were in place, but even I was surprised by the process which produced a study of incentives that was anything but.

The report on our investigation into the study is linked at the bottom of this post.

The Show-Me Institute has set up a Google Drive folder with all the supporting documents, including the request for proposal, bids, and large email files obtained through open records requests. But here are some of the key items we found most compelling:

  • Original CDFA response to request for proposal
  • Initial contract with CDFA
  • Email from Mark Barbash to Kerrie Tyndall
  • Email from Matt Webster to Bob Langenkamp
  • Email containing chart of CDFA meetings with stakeholders
  • Early draft of CDFA report

Previous Show-Me posts on economic development subsidies and the CDFA report specifically:

On May 22, Patrick Tuohey held a press conference about the findings in the report:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyVBIJ59yIo&t=

 

 

About the Author

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.

Learn more about this author >

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