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TIFs = Tax Increment Financing districts.
They were started in Chicago in 1986 by Mayor Washington. There were a few TIFs operating in 1980 when Richard M. Daley became Mayor. He ramped them up rapidly and expansively. In 2018 there were 145 TIF districts.
A TIF grabs property tax dollars. Every dollar from every property inside the district ABOVE the dollars that those properties produced BEFORE the TIF was created.
In 2018 Chicago’s TIFs collected a staggering $675 million and spent $419 million! At the end of 2018 there was $1.5 BILLION in property taxes sitting in our TIF accounts.
This is a secretive process that is OFF THE BOOKS.
For ever dollar of property tax that is taken off the table, there are local government losers.
About 55 cents of every property tax dollar collected in Chicago SHOULD go to the Board of Education. In reality, it’s about 35 cents!
So how are our public school children impacted by this constant drain? Who ARE the majority of children in our public school system?
Over the years TIFs have taken over $8 BILLION in property taxes off the table. Billions of public dollars have flowed to wealthy and clouted developers, lawyers, consultants, and construction companies – who have build lavishly in the Central Loop area.
The CivicLab has been investigating and reporting on TIFs since 2013. We’ve been invited to do 79 public meetings all over the city. In addition, we’ve done ten open enrollment workshops on TIFs and economic justice.
We’ve talked to activists, reporters, academics, and elected officials all over the country and we’ve reached this conclusion…
TIFs are racist. They are unfair. They are corrupting. They can’t be reformed. They should be abolished.
Just take a look at the 24th Ward – West Lawndale. At one point it was almost 100% covered by TIFs! How are the good people in that community doing right now?
Well, for one thing, we know that African American communities are being disproportionately devastated by COVID19.
We see TIFs as part of the narrative of oppression on African Americans in America and Chicago that includes segregation, red lining, contract home buying, predatory lending, over policing, privatization, closing of public schools, and disinvestment.
Our complete set of arguments are online at www.endtifsnow.org.
We are calling for the abolition of TIFs and the liberation of the $1.2 billion remaining in the TIF accounts (Mayor Lightfoot grabbed $300 million for her 2020 budget) for emergency COVID19 services and support. Our demands are laid out here: https://tinyurl.com/Peoples-COVID-Response-Demands.
The two super TIFs were pushed through City Council in April of 2019. They include a staggering $800 MILLION in finance fees (pure profit for Wall Street)! The two senior aldermen overseeing the process were Ed Burke and Danny Solis. Both men are heading to prison. The entire process was corrupt and a travesty. School districts, teacher’s unions, and parent groups across the country are protesting and even suing their mayors over TIFS.
And now – in midst of a public health crisis that is killing people of color EVERY DAY – the City is blessing another mega project along the Lakefront with massive TIF subsidies. When is this going to stop???
The CivicLab is the middle of this fight.
We look forward to working with you to explain, illuminate, fight, and replace this racist and failed use of public dollars for so-called community development with something that will truly deliver justice and prosperity to those who have been denied for so long!
Tom TresserLead OrganizerTIF Illumination Projecttom@civiclab.us – 773-770-5714
