Tax Increment Financing Reforms Promised by Chicago Mayor Lightfoot

"Mayor Lori Lightfoot is promising to tighten up the procedure for awarding taxpayer subsidies to projects under a program that critics have for decades hammered as a slush fund for wealthy developers," reports John Byrne.

Tax increment financing (TIF) has been a frequent target for critics in Chicago for years, and "Lightfoot inherited the much-derided public financing deals for Lincoln Yards and The 78 mega-developments from predecessor Rahm Emanuel, but she has caught flack from activists who said she didn’t do nearly enough to try to rework the agreements when she took office."

For reforms, the Lightfoot administration is considering new, more rigorous standards for projects to qualify for the TIF tax break, reports Byrne. "Central to the fight over TIFs is the 'but-for' test, a state requirement that the city determine a project wouldn’t go forward without getting the added boost of money from the special taxing district in which it sits."

Similar to questions raised about the federal Opportunity Zones program, Chicago's TIF program has a questionable track record of living up to its intended purposes of directing investment to underserved areas. "While the state law that created TIF districts specified the money be used in blighted areas, the definition of 'blighted' was stretched quite a bit by mayors Richard M. Daley and Emanuel, who turned the program into a key development tool," writes Byrne.