Publication Date

2013

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article deals with Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which is a popular economic development tool. TIF borrows against future tax revenues to subsidize current development projects. In Illinois, this economic development tool is justified by its promise to expand the local tax base: by increasing tax revenues, increasing the number of tax payers or increasing the number of taxable properties in the area. However, it is not clear that TIF delivers on its promise. A new dataset, which is introduced in this article, helps to clarify the issue. It does so by providing information about the number of TIF Districts in suburban Cook County, Illinois, the number of taxable properties therein and the nature of the relationship between these variables. If these variables move together, which would indicate that TIF Districts positively correlate with taxable properties, this article will find that TIF delivers on its promise.

Publication Title

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Volume

34

Issue

1

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