Research

The CivicLab’s TIF Illumination Project continues to unearth how public dollars and resources are being utilized to enrich the pockets of a cabal of politicians and developers who seemingly have the sole interest...

Want to know how much public money Chicago’s TIFs removed in 2022? The only complete analysis is right here. Record high totals across the board! Purchase the data UNDER the report. Tweet

Thanks to a grant from the amazing MuckRock Foundation, the TIF Illumination Project has been able to review ALL the TIFs of Illinois for 2020! Get the details and the data! Tweet

The MuckRock Foundation has awarded the CivicLab a grant of $10,000 from its Gateway Program to investigate and expose ALL the Tax Increment Financing Districts in Illinois. The CivicLab will be examining all...

No one can give you this data. The City does NOT want you to have it. Only the CivicLab can tell you everything about Chicago’s out of control Tax Increment Financing Program. Click...

On Wednesday, September 23, 2021 the CivicLab presented at our 183rd public meeting. We Illuminated the TIFs of Evanston. 79 people registered and 46 attended – including two sitting Evanston city council members,...

Our 2019 TIF Illumination of all of Chicago’s TIFs for 2019 is now available! Thanks to the intrepid team at the City Bureau for assembling the raw data. Click here to request your...

Check out this interactive time line from Medill School of Journalism student Joel Jacobs, “How Chicago’s Controversial TIF Program Took Over a Third of the City.” Tweet

The TIF Illumination Project’s analysis of Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing Program for 2018 is online! Bring us to YOUR community to continue the process of grassroots civic engagement we started in 2013. Tweet

This is the first story resulting from a summer-long collaboration between In These Times and the TIF Illumination Project. The National TIF Illumination Project is on the road to mapping the state of...