Bearing the Burden

By Jim Young

When a TIF (Tax Increment Finance District) is created there are many losers
including taxpayers, other taxing bodies (schools, parks, library,
conservation district, county), and competing business not in the TIF.

The winners are few and include business in the TIF, politicians, and
consultants.  The businesses in the TIF are essentially getting a rebate on
their taxes to build infrastructure that the rest of us had to pay for.  For
example, when I bought my home I was charged for the streets, sidewalks,
water, sewer, and streetlights.  These would be supplied by the TIF using
the businesses' taxes.  Even worse, the city may (and probably will) give
grants and loans to these businesses.

The politicians gain by earning the good will of the favored business and
may reap campaign contributions.

To create the district, the city hired consultants that are paid handsomely.
These payments are a dead loss to society in that they produce no
discernable benefit.  It takes chutzpa for these consultants to claim that
an area is blighted because the valuation in the proposed TIF rose less than
the rest of the city when the city denied permission to develop the area.

The TIF is the worst kind of special interest legislation.  It takes from
all of us and gives to the favored few.

This article appeared In the Northwest Herald September 29, 2005

James S. "Jim" Young is a member of the Fox Valley Libertarian Party and a former candidate. He currently resides in Crystal Lake, Illinois