Show-Me Now! Joplin Rebuilt Without Government Subsidies

Corporate Welfare | May 22, 2017

By Patrick Tuohey | Read Time 1 minute

Six years after a tornado destroyed much of Joplin, MO, the city is back. The population is larger now. Property values are higher now. And what role did government play in all this? They helped with the cleanup and they reduced the regulatory burden on construction, but when they tried to subsidize the rebuilding effort through tax increment financing (TIF), the developer that received the TIF money failed. And yet the people of Joplin pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and demonstrated for the country that subsidies are not needed to rebuild.

For more information, read our recent case study, Tax-Increment Financing in Post-Tornado Joplin.

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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