Daley & Dishonesty - what , again?!?

Our friends at Progress Illinois blog outline some of the ways Mayor Daley continues his dishonest ways around property taxes -- and that Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is at the center of the scam.

This is no news to members of Northside Action for Justice, who have been pointing out the fundamental dishonesty and injustice of the city's TIF program for more than a decade.

Daley -- and most Aldermen, when it suits their interests -- pretend that TIFs are magic, and create money without raising property taxes. They pretend that committing millions of public dollars to institutions like Loyola and S&C Electric is a free lunch that neither adds to the tax burden of residents nor takes money away from other essential public services like schools, parks, city services, libraries, etc.

Those claims are as ridiculous as was the praise for the emperor's famous new clothes.

If we can be honest for a moment, let's admit that taxes are important and necessary. Taxes pay for all public programs and services, and that's the way it's supposed to be. Government is not supposed to be a business - or run like one - whose primary directive is to make a profit.

The debate about taxation should be about fairness in who pays, effectiveness in how public goods/services are delivered and equity in who benefits. Pretending that TIFs are magic is a way to avoid debating whether the community should be paying for Loyola's private, tax-exempt campus construction or a former Alderman's real estate deals.

Maybe a requirement for participatory budgeting for TIFs would help bring this debate back to the true issues.