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Tax Increment Financing
PI Original
by Angela Caputo
3:18pm
Tue Nov 17, 2009

Is This Daley's Idea Of TIF Transparency?

Chicago City Council

Mayor Daley appears to be feeling the pressure to come clean about
his plans to spend the city's $1 billion tax increment financing (TIF)
surplus.  As regular readers know, the city's unprecedented budget shortfall has opened the door to some long-overdue questions about ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
2:54pm
Tue Nov 10, 2009
4 comments

Over 90 Percent Of Daley's Property Taxes Go Towards TIF

Taxes

Each fall, Cook County Clerk David Orr releases an annual tally of how much public money has been absorbed into Chicago's massive tax increment financing (TIF) system. Like clockwork, each new report reveals that hundreds of millions are whisked away from schools, parks, ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
11:57am
Mon Nov 9, 2009

Tribune: Daley Has Gotten "Carried Away" With TIF

Tax Increment Financing

Since the Reader's Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke published their latest report on Chicago's shady tax increment financing (TIF) system, we've noted the increasing media attention being devoted to the issue, with some reporters even going so far as to refer to as a "huge ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
3:36pm
Mon Nov 2, 2009
4 comments

Daley Tries - And Fails - To Defend His TIF Empire

Tax Increment Financing

With his public opinion at an all-time low and questions
circling about his "creative" city financing, Chicago Mayor Richard
Daley is making the media rounds -- sitting down with both WLS' Bill Cameron and WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight in recent days. Not surprisingly...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
12:37pm
Thu Oct 29, 2009
2 comments

Ald. Allen: We Should Rename TIF "The 'Over-Tax Fund’"

Chicago City Council

Is Northwest Side Ald. Tom Allen (38th Ward) emerging as the Chicago
City Council's leading tax increment financing (TIF) watchdog? Since
Mayor Daley began to detail just how bad the city's finances have
become, Allen has been one of the most vocal critics of the mayor's ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
11:22am
Mon Oct 26, 2009
1 comment

FOX's Placko Highlights Chicago's "Huge TIF Problem"

Taxes

Last week, we documented how the Reader's stellar investigation into Mayor Daley's $1 billion "shadow budget" had reinvigorated the public debate around tax increment financing (TIF) -- just in time for the city's budget talks with aldermen.  Over the weekend, FOX ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
1:21pm
Thu Oct 22, 2009
2 comments

A Glimmer Of Hope: The TIF Debate Hits The Chicago Airwaves

Manny Flores

During Mayor Daley's budget address yesterday, we listened closely to see if he would make any mention of Chicago's other budget: the $1 billion in taxpayer dollars currently sitting in off-the-books tax increment financing (TIF) accounts. To no one's surprise, the mayor ...

PI Original
by Angela Caputo
4:26pm
Wed Oct 21, 2009

A Question For Mayor Daley: Why So Quiet About TIF?

Tax Increment Financing

As Mayor Daley unveiled his latest budget today, the big news
surrounded his proposal to pull $370 million from the reserve fund
created by Chicago's parking meter lease to help balance next year's
$6.14 billion budget.  But as we listened to him address the City
Council ...

PI Original
by Josh Kalven
11:26am
Tue Oct 20, 2009
1 comment

The Blind Spot In The Chicago Tax Break Debate

Chicago

Yesterday on WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight, Tribune business columnist David Griesing came on to discuss a timely issue: the incentives used by the City of Chicago to lure large corporations to downtown office buildings.  This is a topic we've written about regularly over the past ...