I was in the bicycle business for 20 plus years in Kansas. For the first 15 or so, there was an inventory tax. Whatever inventory was in the store on December 31st was taxed. Felt weird. If you had a successful store, fully inventoried, it cost you significant money. In the 1980's, Kansas changed its' laws, and eliminated the inventory tax, but simultaneously, changed how it figured property tax on real estate. Frankly, I don't know which is worse. I still own a building where I used to operate the bicycle store. The tax load on the building is over $19,000 per year. It's incredible what I pay in county property tax now. The inventory tax was bad, but not as bad as the current system assessing real estate. I don't know what the solutions are. Governmental entities need funds, but somehow it seems screwed up.