Crain's Chicago Business
This article discusses Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing program and counters the argument that TIF districts take money that would otherwise go to public schools. When a TIF district is created its EAV at that time remains frozen, so tax revenues generated from the incremental growth in EAV above the frozen base are used for TIF projects. This does not change the levy collected by individual governments on the frozen base EAV. The Civic Federation explained that in recent years CPS has collected the maximum property tax levy allowed by law, so what it doesn’t get from TIF districts it collects from all other property taxpayers.