Report: Tax Increment Financing Is the New Redlining

Sarah Fenske reports on a new report from researchers at the Show-Me Institute that criticizes the use of tax increment financing (TIF) in St. Louis.

Fenske quotes Patrick Tuohey, co-author of the conservative think tank's report, who provides a potentially explosive soundbite about the racial issues at play in the use of TIFs both in St. Louis and Kansas City (Tuohey also completed a study of Kansas City for the Urban League). "These (TIFs) are modern-day versions of redlining and block-busting," says Tuohey. Fenske follows up on that comment:

That fact comes across in Tuohey's more limited study of St. Louis, which echoes the findings of local progressives by showing that tax increment financing is mostly given to the neighborhoods that need it least. City officials say that such tax deals are needed to spur development in neighborhoods where it would otherwise not occur — yet Tuohey's study shows that only a small percentage of TIFs are found in high poverty census tracks. 

The Show-Me Institute will be working to seek reforms to the TIF program in St. Louis, according to Fenske. Tuohey mentions one possible reform in the article: "to delineate which neighborhoods they're open to TIF packages — and eliminate their use in the others." It should be noted, that the Show-Me Institute has already posted that one of the anecdotes included in the article was in error, originating from the report.