Why big developers are classing vacant plots as 'farms' to win huge tax breaks - and how it passes burden on to YOU

Open lush green areas around the Plaza at the Speedway outdoor shopping mall in Kansas City have been turned into 'farms'. 

These lands do not have any livestock or cultivation but is instead covered in trash. 

County Appraiser Matt Willard explained: 'Livestock doesn't eat trash. And that's what's getting baled up in that situation. Literal refuse from the surrounding properties. 

'I'm not a farmer. But if I was, and you tried to sell that to me, I'd laugh at you. It's of no use.'

While these lands may not be of any use to Kansans, builders in the area have been fighting to gain ownership for a long time. 

Open lush green areas around the Plaza at the Speedway outdoor shopping mall in the city have been turned into 'farms'

A major property tax break set in place by the city's lawmakers in the 1980s allows farm land owners to pay nearly no tax. 

Kansas tax law defines farming or ranching as any activity, which involves the growing or raising of agricultural products or farm and ranch work for hire. 

Under this, anyone engaged in the production of agricultural commodities for resale may claim an agricultural exemption.

But while the law specifies the kind of activities that qualify as farming, it does not clarify whether the future plans of the owner will impact tax levies. 

This has given agents free reign over holding onto such lands without paying any taxes until they decide to develop the area - something that the state court has also approved. 

Douglas Knop, a property tax appeals representative, said: 'What we're doing is the right way, according to the statute. 

'We're not doing it the wrong way or anything else. We're doing what the statute says we can do.'

Kansas tax law defines farming or ranching as any activity which involves the growing or raising of agricultural products or farm and ranch work for hire. Under this, anyone engaged in the production of agricultural commodities for resale may claim an agricultural exemption

Agents free reign over holding onto 'farm' lands without paying any taxes till they decide to develop the area - a major problem for locals

'Farms' around the Plaza at the Speedway outdoor shopping mall have caused issues among developers and locals is the area.

The 'farms' surrounding the area are in a legal dispute forwarded by the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK. 

Willard said of the dispute: 'It's a good statute as it was intended: to allow farmers to keep producing crops. 

'When it gets into these other situations, it's a tax dodge.' 

In a residential subdivision in Wyandotte County, 17 undeveloped lots continue to be classified as small farms, paying around $10 per year in property taxes

According to the Kansas City Star, the tax due on a two-acre stretch of 'farm' land near the Kohl's and Sam's Club was $25,031.38. 

But under the law, the appraiser's office estimated that the bill could easily drop to $17 - a major problem for locals in the area. 

In a residential subdivision in Wyandotte County, 17 undeveloped lots continue to be classified as small farms, paying around $10 per year in property taxes. 

As the Kansas Court of Appeals decides on the case of the farms in the outdoor shopping mall, Willard said, 'I really feel like it's a statute problem. 

'I think the solution is, there needs to be some clarifying language added … that gives guidance to county appraisers, the Board of Tax Appeals and taxpayers.

'That's what we want from the Court of Appeals. Is to say, is that OK? Is that what we want to be doing? Or do we need to add some clarifying language to say what a farm is? That's the hope of this. And we'll see.'