Noah’s Ark project gets property tax break
A Kentucky city has agreed to give a huge property tax break to a planned biblical theme park that will include a wooden replica of Noah’s Ark.
The Grant County city of Williamstown has offered a 75 percent property tax break to The Ark Encounter over the next 30 years.
The theme park is being built by a group that includes Answers in Genesis, the founders of the biblically-based Creation Museum in Boone County.
The property tax agreement means the Ark Encounter would pay 25 percent of the local taxes due on 800 acres of property where the $150 million theme park will be built. Mayor Rick Skinner says the reduced property taxes will generate far more revenue than unoccupied land.
The project is expected to break ground in the next few months. The tax deal is in addition to nearly $200,000 from Grant County’s economic development arm given as an enticement to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.
The state of Kentucky has also promised $40 million worth of sales tax rebates and a possible $11 million in improvements to the nearby interstate highway, financed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
City Council member Glenn Caldwell, a former mayor, said he’s still evaluating the numbers of the property tax deal.
“I’m trying to be cautious in representing our city,” he said, “making sure people will not be burdened with additional costs because of this project.”
The Ark Encounter is projected to create 900 full- and part-time jobs and draw 1.4 million visitors in its first year. Mike Zovath, senior vice president of Ark Encounters LLC, said the project has already raised between 75 percent and 80 percent of the expected $150 million cost from private investors.
So far, the group has spent about $2 million on the project. The park will include the ark, a Tower of Babel and a village built to look like cities described in the Bible.
From Fox19
Pardon? This is clearly a religious endeavor, run by the religious, for the religious, promoting a religious propaganda, fake science and just overall general ignorance. WHY IS IT GETTING TAX BREAKS?
This just disgusts me in every fashion.
~Mooglets
![[Painted image of Noah on the Ark, hand up to receive the Dove and it’s Olive branch, rainbow in the background. Text reads: ‘Commanded to save 2 of every species, saves 2 of 0.1% of species.’]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lolf19QMcU1qh1sdyo1_400.png)
[Painted image of Noah on the Ark, hand up to receive the Dove and it’s Olive branch, rainbow in the background. Text reads: ‘Commanded to save 2 of every species, saves 2 of 0.1% of species.’]
The Thinking Atheist takes on the story of Noah’s Ark.
~Mooglets
Potholer45 continues his debunking of the Noahcian Flood, this time using only Fossil Distribution.
~Mooglets
Potholer54 debunks the Noahcian Flood using only Geological evidence.
~Mooglets
“I wonder who got the shit job of scouring the planet for the 15000 species of butterfly or the 8800 species of ant they eventually took on board Noah’s Ark. But at least we got that magical rainbow for all their trouble.”
Azura Skye
$43 million tax break for Noah's Ark
Shame. This is your hard-earned dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.
Meanwhile, public schools are in bad shape and roads need to be repaired.
ATHEIST!
