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The Most Popular Tool: Tax Increment Financing And The Political Economy Of Local Government, Richard Briffault
The Most Popular Tool: Tax Increment Financing And The Political Economy Of Local Government, Richard Briffault
Faculty Scholarship
Tax increment financing (TIF) is the most widely used local government program for financing economic development in the United States, but the proliferation of TIF is puzzling. TIF was originally created to support urban renewal programs and was narrowly focused on addressing urban blight, yet now it is used in areas that are plainly unblighted. TIF brings in no outside money and provides no new revenue-raising authority. There is little clear evidence that TIF has done much to help the municipalities that use it, and it is also a source of intergovernmental tension and a site of conflict over the …