The document discusses Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, which divert property tax revenue from other taxing bodies towards development projects. TIFs are intended to fund projects in blighted areas that the private market cannot support, but critics argue they are overused and lack transparency. The document examines how TIF funds have been allocated in Chicago, particularly to support large commercial developments, hotels, and stadiums even in prosperous areas of the city.
3. 3
Key Policy Questions
1. Under what circumstances do we give public $ to private
business?
2. Who plans what for whom? AKA, What defines
“community development”?
3. Is Chicago broke?
4. Who’s watching our back? Need for new leaders.
8. 8
What are TIFs?
• Created by municipality (state law)
• Designed to subsidize some business project
in “blighted” or under-served area
• “But for” test – only for projects market CAN
NOT support
• Captures “incremental” property taxes ABOVE
base when district was created
• Only for hard costs
• Lasts 23 years
• Supposed to be spent where collected
9. 9
What are TIFs?
The Midwest TIF – 24th Ward
(created in 2000)
Say there
are 1,000
properties
in the
TIF…
10. 10
How Do TIFs Work?
When the TIF is created,
the city tallies up all the
property taxes
generated by district in
that year (called the
"base" amount). After
that, all property tax
increases above the
base (the "increment")
are channeled to the TIF
district.
The property taxes
collected from
properties inside the
district BEFORE the
district was created
that go to units of
government stays
FLAT for the life of the
TIF (23 years).
B
A
S
E
12. 12
What are TIFs?
Under state law, areas proposed for TIF designation
must possess numerous blighting factors to be
eligible:
• Age
• Obsolescence
• Code violations
• Excessive vacancies
• Overcrowding of facilities
13. 13
TIFs Usedto support commercial projects in these“Blighted”
Areas
40 S. Halsted
Apple Store
25. To sum up:
TIFs = property taxes
Increment $ collected by TIF
Run by city (mayor)
Lasts 23 years
Blight & “But for” conditions
Hard costs
Supposed to be spent where
collected
28. 123 S. Dearborn Street –
Dearborn Center
32 W. Randolph Street –
Oriental Theater
1 N. Dearborn Street - Sears
TIF $ in the Loop
29. 188 W. Randolph Street –
Randolph Tower
Apartments
230 N. Michigan Avenue –
Hard Rock Hotel
555 W. Monroe Street –
PepsiCo
TIF $ in the Loop, Near West Side
32. TIF Funds in the 3rd Ward
UPDATE - $55 MILLION TIF
FUNDING SHIFTED FROM
DePAUL STADIUM TO
MARRIOTT HOTEL .
PIER AUTHORITY TO PUT UP
$100 MILLION FOR
STADIUM PROJECT.
36. 36
TIFs hoard taxes
in prosperous
communities –
starve poor
communities.
1. They further inequality in
chicago.
37. 37
Authors plead "Our
message is simple:
'Please, please, if you're
going to offer incentives,
don't give them to every
firm that asks -- Don't!
Ninety percent of the
time they don't work, and
handing them out after a
company has already
located in an area
without them makes no
sense at all."
39. Woodlawn TIF
39
• TIF #065
• Created 1999, Expires 2022
• Property tax extraction in 2015 = $2,298,703
• Total extraction to 2015 = $31,792,116
• Spent 2015 = $1,263,697
• Transfers = $1,263,697 (to 71th/Stony Island
TIF to pay down 2007 Bond Series, Modern
Schools Across Chicago construction)
• Dept. of Planning siphoned off $62,781
• Balance at end of 2015 = $11,175,872
• Ward 20 = Alderman Willie Cochran
https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dcd/supp_info/
tif/woodlawn_tif_.html