Laying out its strategic plan, Downtown Greensboro Inc. pushes tax increment financing (TIF):
DGI’s to-do list includes:
finding ways to equalize development costs between downtown and the suburbs.
One way to do that, the report says, would be to advocate the use of what is called tax increment financing, or TIFs, for potential projects.
TIFs are a public financing method that use future gains in taxes to finance projects that would create those gains.
The report says DGI should hold workshops to educate residents, developers and business owners on TIFs, historic tax credits and other financing tools.
Here’s a primer on TIF. Guess what: It’s the most expensive way to borrow money. I’m also not sure what it means to “equalize development costs between downtown and the suburbs.”
