Because this totally happened!
Um … anyone else notice a problem with this?
In May, ThinkProgress reported that Kentucky approved a $43 million tax break for Ark Encounter, a Bible-themed amusement park that religious organizations are building outside Williamstown. Now the state is giving the creationist project another kickback in the form of a 75 percent property tax discount over the next 30 years.
So Kentucky taxpayers are supposed to foot the bill to build a theme park that teaches people that Jesus rode dinosaurs—and roller coasters?
But wait. There's more:
The tax deal is in addition to almost $200,000 given to the company by Grant County’s economic development arm as an enticement to keep the project located there, along with 100 acres of reduced-price land.
And that’s not counting the state’s promise of $40 million worth of sales tax rebates and a possible $11 million in improvements to the interstate near the project that would be financed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
So apparently Kentucky didn't get the memo about how separation of church and state works. As in, no, you can't use millions and millions of taxpayer dollars to teach people about Jesus. Pretty sure that building a creationist theme park on the taxpayer dime is actually the textbook definition of what you can't do. Unless, of course, there's a little known loop-de-loophole.