‘Massive scale’ tax incentives to lure a secret firm to Kansas? Be massively skeptical

Kansas lawmakers have been asked to approve “massive scale” tax incentives for a mysterious manufacturing plant.

We don’t know the company. We don’t know where the project will go. We don’t know what the workers would build.

Is it a new airplane plant, or a toxic waste disposal facility? We don’t know.

We don’t know what impact the proposal would have on transportation, the environment or local schools. We don’t know if the project would provide new jobs or steal workers from existing businesses.

We don’t know if the incentives — which could reach hundreds of millions of dollars over 10 years — might be better spent on other projects. In fact, we don’t know how much the incentives would cost.

Oh — and the Legislature is supposed to decide the issue in less than two weeks.

It’s disturbing, on a “massive scale.” The Kansas Legislature — which is supposed to represent the people — should not endorse this plan, or any plan like it, with so many unanswered questions.

News of the proposal surfaced this week. Kansas is competing with another state (one source said it’s Oklahoma) for an anonymous “mega-manufacturing” facility.

The unnamed company would spend a minimum of $1 billion over five years to build the structure, and then hire up to 4,000 people. In return, the firm asks for Kansas incentives and credits, including a refundable tax credit for construction costs, payroll and training reimbursements, a property tax break and a sales tax exemption on construction materials.

One estimate Thursday suggested the incentives are worth at least $800 million over 10 years, but it was just an educated guess. No specifics have been provided by the state.

Kansans should view this proposal with deep skepticism. If you doubt it, take a look at the Foxconn project in Wisconsin, unveiled with enormous fanfare in 2017.

Lawmakers in that state promised billions in incentives for a $10 billion plant that was supposed to make LCD screens. Foxconn promised 13,000 jobs, a “game-changer” for the state.

Never happened. Last year, Foxconn slashed the project, reducing promised jobs by 90%. The partially-built facility is now used mainly for storage.

It’s true Wisconsin never doled out all of the incentives it promised. Wisely, the mystery Kansas project plan calls for similar clawbacks.

But there were costs in Wisconsin anyway, including transportation improvements, land acquisition, and hundreds of hours of preparation work. Lives and careers were altered. Wisconsin won’t get that money or time back.

Is the Kansas project another Foxconn? Who knows? Certainly not the people of Kansas.

During two days of testimony in Topeka, and in conversations with economic development officials this week, the message has been the same: Trust us. Um, no. Kansans cannot know if this is a worthwhile project without a bare minimum of understandable detail. We don’t have it yet.

Remember former President Ronald Reagan’s use of an old Russian proverb: “Doveryai no proveryai.” Trust, but verify.

The eco-devo crowd also repeated its familiar refrain about the need to keep up with the big boys on mega-deals. “In a perfect world we don’t have incentives,” Kansas Chamber honcho Eric Stafford told the Kansas Senate Commerce Committee, but “we don’t live in a perfect world.”

He’s right. But we can make Kansas more perfect than it is, and grow the state, with good schools, solid transportation, robust rural communities, public safety, clean air and water, health care for those who don’t have it, protection from disease, fair tax policies and honest, transparent government.

Writing a huge check to Anonymous Inc. isn’t part of the bargain. Kansas lawmakers should demand answers, and until the people get them, they should just say no.