The CivicLab is offering to do a briefing on Chicago’s TIFs. We’ve been in the field since 2013 and have done over 170 public meetings. We’ve talked to organizers across the country who are fighting TIFs as part of a broader campaign for racial and economic justice. We’ve worked closely with the Cincinnati Federation of Teachers to liberate long secret local TIF data (see http://www.tifreports.com/cincinnati-organizing). No one can tell you the details about Chicago’s TIFs that we can. We know: where the TIFs are, how much they steal from each ward, where TIFs were spending the most, how much $ is left in the TIF accounts at the end of 2019, what TIFs are paying off loans, how much $ has been moved around, and how much $ the Department of Planning skimmed from the skim. This year, for the first time, we can tell you how much $ sitting in the TIF accounts came from Black and Latinx wards. This info is critical now that the Fair Tax Amendment failed and Mayor Lightfoot pushed through another regressive budget that will tax us all while giving billions in public subsidies to White billionaire developers. All the talk across civic Chicago about racial justice, equity, and the racist precursors to the obscene COVID death rates in our communities of color ring HOLLOW as long as TIFs continue to strip mine our communities and line the pockets of clouted developers like Sterling Bay and Related Midwest. Remember, “T.I.F.s” = “Taking It From Schools”! Tom Tresser – [email protected] – www.endtisnow.org