Curbing TIFs

The Joplin (Mo.) Globe

The use of tax-increment financing for commercial developments won't come to an end soon, but the tool may be reined in considerably because of the impact of these tax incentives on public school budgets.

Our concern with tax-increment financing is that the incentives have been used for projects in sections of communities that stretch the imagination as blighted areas. ...

But if you listen to the plaint of the Missouri School Boards Association, overuse of TIFs has drained away much-needed tax dollars for public schools.

The most straightforward solution, assuming that there is no legislative interest in abandoning tax-increment financing, will be to write more restrictive descriptions of what can qualify as a blighted area. That would quickly reduce the number of new TIFs and ease the concerns of school officials.