Don't be Scammed - TIF projects spend Tax Revenues

 November 10, 2023

Today's episode of "Can you Believe the Arena-entertainment district hype?" and "Why are city residents funding NEDC to mislead the public?"

To perform a proper return on investment of a public expenditure requires looking at public budget impacts.

It is true that TIF projects do not get allocations from the general fund because...

TIF prevents money from flowing INTO the general fund in the first place. In public finance we call this a tax expenditure b/c it reduces tax revenues available in the general fund.

TIF does impact the General Fund in a big way (recall the UNP TIF siphoned more than 10% of sales taxes from the general fund at its peak).