Nearly a third of property tax revenue in Chicago is diverted into 143 TIF districts controlled by the mayor, nearly half of which are located in affluent neighborhoods.
Tax increment financing, or TIF, districts in Cook County generated a record $1 billion in 2017, up nearly 18 percent from 2016,according to the Cook County clerk. Chicago accounted for most of these gains by generating $660 million, an 18 percent increase from 2016. As long as these TIF districts exist, however, struggling school districts in those districts won’t see a dime of this revenue. This comes at a time when Cook County and Chicago face budget shortfalls up to $95 million and $812 million, respectively, by 2020.
In theory, TIFs are a mechanism used to revitalize “blighted” neighborhoods by providing economic incentives for developers to invest in the area. TIFs freeze the Equalized Assessment Value, or EAV, of all properties in a designated TIF district and divert all property tax revenue above that EAV into a private TIF fund. The amount of property tax revenue collected by individual taxing bodies within a TIF district – school districts, libraries, et cetera – is effectively capped at the frozen EAV.
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Jake Day has read his book
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when Mike Dunn wanted to give the owners of the old mall property a TIF?
ReplyDeleteRead this article and think about what Mike Dunn was going to get out of that old mall property.
Democrats doing what they do best lie steal cheat deceive!! Dont expect anything less
ReplyDeleteNothing surprises me with Chicago anymore.
ReplyDeleteThis TIF district thing occurs right here in Maryland too.
ReplyDelete