Johnson County Board of County Commissioner, District 3

This does not reflect the majority view of the Johnson County BOCC

July 8, 2024

When Mike Kelly, the uber liberal demi-god chairman of the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners, and rank and file Republican legislators spew forth the exact same talking points on the wonders of corporate welfare….That’s a Problem.

During Thursday mornings’ Johnson County Board of County Commissioners’ meetings, I listened to Chairman Kelly’s diatribe litany of supposed blessings bestowed upon the community through corporate welfare which consists of one set of rules for the high and mighty: thou shalt NOT pay your fair share of property or sales tax and another set of rules for us: thou shalt be OVERBURDENED and every last dime of income, sales and property tax (which both the Republicans and Democrats levy upon you) thou shalt pay!!!….That’s a Problem.

Republicans, having voted for the Star Bond giveaway to the Chiefs and Royals, stammer and beg understanding that they HAD to participate in corporate welfare, (which, by the way, is German/Hitler corporatism, Italian/Mussolini economic FASCISM and U.S./FDR’s New Deal), because everyone else does!!!! Don’t we tell our kids not to follow the crowd???? This is BEYOND REPREHENSIBLE/UNFORGIVABLE abuse of YOU, the taxpayer….That’s a Problem.

Corporate welfare includes, but this is far from a complete list:

1. Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRBs-property and sales tax exemptions), full disclosure, I used an IRB for a 50% property tax abatement in 2004, a mistake which cost me approximately $600,000.00 when my tenant left for another abatement in 2014.  Free market capitalism works, cronyism corporate welfare does not. 

2. Tax Increment Finance (TIFs-property tax payments go back to developer/owner to pay for infrastructure) 

3. Star Bonds (sales tax generated by development pays for billionaires’ projects) 

“Taxes for thee, but not for me”, mentality is decimating our tax base by diverting nearly $100 million annually from Johnson County public coffers just in IRB and TIF property tax giveaways to the big boys. This does not include Star Bond subsidies….That’s a Problem.

These are SCAMS with applications filled with boiler plate talking points.  These are ALL hatched to transfer wealth from YOUR pocket to billionaires’ pockets. Republicans and Democrats have converged on this MEGAGIVEAWAY policy called economic development.

Meanwhile no one represents the folks, YOUR pocketbook…. That’s a Problem.


Houston, WE have a problem.