Politics
Share of Chicago Property Taxes Claimed by TIF Funds Soared 47% in 5 Years: Data
The share of property taxes collected by the city and then claimed by Chicago’s tax-increment finance districts grew 47% between 2019 and 2023, according to a WTTW News analysis.
That massive growth funneled $5.84 billion into the special districts designed to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight, according to five years of reports on TIF districts published by the Cook County Clerk’s Office examined by WTTW News. The report for 2024 is not set to be published until July.
TIFs weren’t invented in Chicago, but officials starting with former Mayor Richard M. Daley perfected them as he worked to transform Mud City into a gleaming metropolis.
But the era when city officials relied on TIF districts to fund the bulk of economic development efforts is ending, with the approval of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond.
Forty-seven of the city’s 124 TIFs are set to expire in the coming months, sending the billions of property tax revenues TIFs had been capturing to the area’s taxing districts, including the city, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District.
That would allow the city to pay off the debt without triggering a property tax increase, officials said.
A perennial source of controversy, TIF districts, and the city’s reliance on them, have long been reviled by progressive groups and leaders who argued that they have only served to exacerbate growing inequality in Chicago.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
