Chicago TIFS: Find out what 150 mayoral slush funds look like | Chicago News, Politics, Culture and Commentary - WindyCitizen.com
Tax Increment Financing Districts, or TIFs, are special taxing districts used to spur redevelopment of "blighted" areas. Redevelopment leads to increased property tax revenues. If the area is a TIF, that increase does not go into the general tax coffers. It goes to the city, but is used to pay back the developer for building the new infrastructure that went along with the redevelopment and otherwise serve as a "mayoral slush fund," as the article says. The result is that the school districts and other taxing bodies get nothing for 23 years, even though the TIF may greatly increase the burdens on taxpayers to those bodies.
As with every aspect of government in Chicago, it is nearly impossible to get accurate information on how this particular device is being used. But this article says that 30% of the land area of Chicago is now in TIFs. Makes life interesting for the other 70% when tax time comes.
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