David has this right.
TIF has been a trap for core cities trying to keep a tax base of some kind -
any kind - just as long as "it" is not built elsewhere. So it gets into a
"my public subsidy is bigger than yours" battles with cleaner, if more
distant and less expensive, suburban land - some of it agricultural.
The trap bears the same markings as corporate management these days: short
term profit that disregards the long-term implications, like stability,
survival, and a new word, thrival. Communities and institutions mortgage
their future and risk serious losses when debt, not equity, is the basis for
financial stability.
As for NRP, it's a bit like the sin taxes we think we're levying to
discourage use or participation. Once we levy them, however, and the sins
are unabating, we grow dependent on the revenue source, afraid to stop them
for fear of losing both the money and the sinners. But by our own addiction
to those revenues, we enable the behavior we're trying to curb or control -
smoking, alcohol and drug use, gambling --- and TIF.
How used to our lottery are we as a culture? How many compulsive gamblers
have we spawn by a state-sponsored gambling enterprise? What business do we
have as a public organism fostering and operating a system that addicts a
good percentage of our population to its seductions?
The only way to really operate is to make developable land attractive enough
and not allow the blackmail to persist by giving away public resources to
finance rich developers and then forgive much of the debt or delay it so
long, we never see the benefits of the incremental property tax increases.
The only way to stop gambling addiction is to stop the creation of
state-sponsored terrorism with opportunities to do it. The only way to wean
NRP off its dependence on TIF monies is to bite bullets and appropriate the
funds necessary for it to succeed. There is no incentive for the state to
encourage us to stop smoking and drinking if huge dollars are extracted from
their sales. This is why anything other than taxation is taxation by another
name - only far more dishonest.
Andy
> From: "David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 11:55:57 -0600
> To: "Mpls list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: RE: [Mpls] Kathy Thurber's withdrawal letter to 9th Ward DFL
> delegates
>
> Jordan writes:
>
>> Here is the test: News accounts state that the downtown Target project is
>> receiving $127 million in TIF subsidies. Can someone with knowledge of the
>> local tax structure please provide a liberal estimate of how many years it
>> will take for the downtown Target store to pay back $127 million in local
>> taxes?
>
> There are bigger tests, too.
>
> Is the property developable privately without TIF? If it is, then the city's
> general fund gets the cash right away.
>
> True, TIF districts fund NRP now, but let's not forget, one-seventh of the
> city is tied up in such districts. That means non-TIF districts - you, me,
> and unsubsidized businesses -- must bear a greater share of general-fund
> needs.
>
> It's entirely plausible that if we did fewer TIF deals - on DEVELOPABLE
> property - we'd have more money in the general fund and could subsidize an
> NRP-type program directly. (And if you're an NRP-hater, we could do some
> other form of neighborhood assistance.)
>
> Let's not fall into the trap of thinking we need to support bad
> (over-subsidized) TIF deals to help neighborhoods.
>
> On some level, the TIF-NRP link is an accounting gimmick that dedicates TIF
> district revenues to the NRP account. But we're hurting everyone if we
> subsidize property that would produce big tax revenues anyway (such as an
> unsubsidized Target tower without the subsidized Target store). All it takes
> is political courage and long-term vision not to hand out needless subsidy
> bon-bons - and to be sure elected officials support the neighborhoods,
> regardless of whether the cash comes from TIF or the general fund.
>
> David Brauer
> King Field - Ward 10
>
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