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1. « TIFs 101 » May 2011 Tom Tresser Building tools for distributed democracy

3. How Do TIFs Work? TIFs capture property taxes from the district and place them in off-the-book accounts 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).

5. Where are TIFs?

6. Where are TIFs?

7. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect? Cook County Clerk’s Office

8. How Much Revenue Do TIFs Collect? 2009 TOTAL TIF REVENUE FOR COOK COUNTY City of Chicago TIFs diverted $519 MILLION Suburban Cook County TIFs diverted $319 MILLION TOTAL FOR 2009 = $838 MILLION

9. How Much Revenue Have TIFs Collected? $4.6 BILLION! Ouch!

10. Who Is Harmed By TIFs? ALL units of government that rely on property taxes for their operation – which are STARVED of revenues Forcing them to raise rates, increase valuation and property taxes on your property to make up annual “losses” In Chicago, The Board of Education is SUPPOSED to get almost 54% of your property taxes. But…

11. Who Is Harmed By TIFs? In Chicago, The Board of Education is SUPPOSED to get almost 54% of your property taxes. But… This property owner is in the Touhy/Western TIF District and 24% of HIS property taxes were captured by the district. The Board of Education only got 39% of his property taxes. That’s a loss of 15% in revenues from this single taxpayer. This mock tax bill was generated by the Cook County Clerk’s web site. The REAL tax bill would NOT show the TIF diversion of property taxes.

12. Who Is Harmed By TIFs?

13. Who Is Harmed By TIFs?

16. TIF for North Side auto dealer is a boondoggle. (Opinion)(city officials plans to give Grossinger Auto Group $8.5 million in tax-increment financing ) Crain's Chicago Business – Jan 14, 2008 TIF addiction in Chicago reached a new low last week. City officials endorsed a plan to give Grossinger Auto Group $8.5 million in tax-increment financing to build a dealership at the bustling intersection of North and Clybourn avenues on the North Side. The site isn't in a TIF district, but the officials were kind enough to create one just for the building Grossinger plans to convert into a four-level auto mall.

17. 2009 revenues of $2.6 BILLION!

18. 2009 revenues of $2.6 BILLION! IN 2009 THE CITY GAVE CHICAGO MERCHANTILE EXCHANGE $15 MILLION FOR REHABBING CORPORATE HQ. APPROVED BY ALDERMAN BOB FIORETTI, 2 ND WARD.

19. CHICAGO PLEADS POVERTY… CUTS SERVICES. CLOSES SCHOOLS. CLOSES HEALTH CLINICS. LAYS OFF TEACHERS. City closed for three week days in 2009… and yet...

20. These TIF transfers of property taxes to wealthy and successful companies divert public funds from vital units of government. They are yet more examples of the 99% being ripped off to enrich the 1%.

21. THE CITY HAD $1.4 BILLION IN UNSPENT TIF FUNDS AT THE END OF 2008 AND NEARLY AS MUCH AT THE END OF 2009 AND 2010! CAN YOU SAY “UNACCOUNTABLE SLUSH FUND”?

22. IF THERE WERE NO TIFS, WHAT HAPPENS?

23. NO TIFS = YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL GOES DOWN BY 11% !!

24. Who Is Harmed By TIFs? We ALL are! TIFs divert almost one billion dollars in property taxes in Cook County every year. TIFs are a tax on everyone – regardless if you live in a TIF district or not. TIFs starve the units of government that rely them for operation. TIFs are notoriously corrupt and difficult to track.

25. Cook County Clerk David Orr issued a press release on November 23, 2009 and called for a moratorium on new TIF districts until a new Mayor is in place and a thorough review of existing TIFs is conducted. “ Too often, Chicago’s policy has been to collect millions in a piggy bank and decide how to spend it later,” Orr said, “Now the city is plugging its budget hole with TIF money but TIFs were not created to be a safety net when the economy went sour, The TIF system is broken and it needs to be fixed.” (see http://tinyurl.com/6dsabkc ) Cook County Clerk David Orr joins teachers and neighbors at a TIF protest on 3/19/11

26. New Mayor is “Shocked”! The Chicago Sun-Times (5/25/11) reported that "Without criticizing Daley directly, Emanuel said he was ‘shocked’ to learn that TIF districts have been multiplying for more than two decades without any job creation standards."

27. The Problem Is State-Wide In Illinois, 360 municipalities have 943 TIF Districts In 2010, across the state, 414 TIF districts were in “non-compliance” for not filing any or proper financial statements, according to The Office of the State Comptroller. That’s 44% of all Illinois TIFs! ?

28. Currently, thousands of TIF districts operate nationwide in the US, from small and mid-sized cities, to the State of California, which dreamt up tax-increment financing in the United States in 1952, although California has currently discontinued the use of them. [2] see California Redevelopment Association v. Ana Matosantos. California maintains over four hundred TIF districts with an aggregate of over $10 billion per year in revenues, over $28 billion of long-term debt, and over $674 billion of assessed land valuation (2008 figures). [3] Every state including the District of Columbia , except Arizona and Wyoming, have enabled legislation for tax increment financing. While some states, such as California and Illinois , have used TIF for decades, many others have only recently passed or amended state laws that allow them to use this tool. [4] - Wikipedia The Problem Is Nation-Wide

29. The TIF Report Team Publisher & Editor-in-Chief – Tom Tresser Tom has been organizing in Chicago since 1990. He was a lead organizer of No Games Chicago in 2009. In 2010 he was the Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President. He has been teaching classes on civic engagement at local universities for six years. He has done leadership training sessions in seven states. He is a vigorous advocate and practitioner of distributed democracy and citizen journalism.

30. Tom Tresser – 312-804-3230 – [email_address] Alpha version of web site = http://tifreports.com Get TIF Tips and other news of distributed democracy and citizen journalism via Twitter = @TIFreport Building tools for distributed democracy Because it's YOUR money!