Tax Increment Financing (TIF)

Fredrick Melo: You don't know TIF!

By the time these words reach print, I’ll be moderating a panel on magic money, peppering experts from across the country with questions outside my pay grade, opening my mouth, inserting my foot.

That’s tax-increment financing as in “TIF,” or magic money.
Continue reading here.

Hey, St. Paul: Here’s some TIF advice from Boston and Chicago by Frederick Melo ​

Imagine that you want to buy, remodel and expand an ugly old house. You first need to clean the yard — not just the twigs and leaves, but remnants of old oil spills in the soil. Maybe you need a new sewer line while you’re at it, even a new sidewalk. These kinds of environmental and quasi-public improvements don’t come cheap, but lucky for you, you’re a taxpayer.  ​Continue reading here.
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Boom or bust? Billions in Twin Cities property taxes are exempt​

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - All a person has to do is look up in downtown Minneapolis to understand these are boom times, with a billion dollars in new construction underway for the sixth year in a row—yet property taxes, especially for homeowners, continue to rise.
The reality is, not all property is created equal. Continue reading here.