Over the years, a special state incentive created to entice people to move to rural Kansas has been continually expanded. The incentive – a combination of income tax breaks and student loan repayments – was created in 2011 by the Legislature at the behest of former Gov. Sam Brownback. At the time, it only applied to 50 counties with populations that had fallen by at least 10% over the previous decade. In 2013 and 2014, the Legislature designated 27 more counties as rural opportunity zones. Then, in 2021, the Legislature made any county with a population of less than 40,000 a rural opportunity zone, making 95 out of the state’s 105 counties eligible for the incentive.
Source: Sunflower State Journal
