When Wal-Mart moved across town, its taxes stayed behind

A Wal-Mart in Kansas City, Missouri, closed on January 18, 2007. A day later, a Wal-Mart opened in another section of the city. Fair to say, these two events were related, no?

Economic-development officials at the city have pretended that the two Wal-Marts had nothing to do with each other. It’s an absurd position, and it enriches a private developer at the expense of taxpayers.