St. Louis's "Team TIF": A community-academic partnership for tax incentive reform

Tax increment financing (TIF) and other development incentives have become American cities' primary means of encouraging local economic development. However, these incentives typically receive less oversight than traditional government spending, potentially leaving them open to corruption and a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of urban affairs Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 863 - 886
Main Authors Harris, Nay'Chelle, Metzger, Molly W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Newark Routledge 18.08.2018
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Case studies
Corruption
Economic development
Fairness
Government spending
Governmental reform
Incentives
Internet
Partnerships
Reforms
Site planning
Tax abatement
Tax incentives
Tax increment financing
Taxation
Teams
St Louis Missouri
United States > US
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Summary:Tax increment financing (TIF) and other development incentives have become American cities' primary means of encouraging local economic development. However, these incentives typically receive less oversight than traditional government spending, potentially leaving them open to corruption and abuse. This article presents a case study of "Team TIF," a novel community-academic partnership focused on government transparency and racial equity in the use of TIF and other incentives. We begin by describing TIF and tax abatement in the St. Louis context, including specific examples of their misuse. We then present the online and offline strategies that Team TIF has used to educate the public on this issue. We close with a discussion of possible local and state-level reforms.
ISSN:0735-2166
1467-9906
DOI:10.1080/07352166.2017.1421433