Des Moines wants to increase the city's tax base by eliminating taxes on certain types of property.
Just as with tax credits, this shifts the tax burden to a smaller group of taxpayers and allows bureaucrats to choose winners and losers by handing out exemptions to some while turning up rates on others.
The ideal tax policy should:
Playing games with abatements, credits, and other incentives, and then claiming it will increase future revenue, does not guarantee anything except a larger bill for some unlucky taxpayers. A well-structured and predictable tax system with low rates for everyone is a better incentive for economic and neighborhood growth.