This is a myth. Rural areas get more tax money back than they pay out. Rural communities are already subsidized by cities, but their low tax base and inefficiency means they still can't provide the same level of services. That's not to mention that cities can provide services with less environmental impact.

> even for the same size school (the same tax base approximately) This is probably a bad assumption. Rural folks pay significantly lower per capita taxes, on average.

Here are a few relevant sources, but this information is all over the place: https://twitter.com/paulkrugman/status/817088161906102273 http://www.startribune.com/metro-vs-outstate-which-counties-... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/opinion/sunday/why-blue-s...