Tax-increment financing, or TIF, has been allowed to degenerate to the point that many cities view a TIF area as a perpetual cash cow to finance a wide range of city operations that have nothing to do with economic development.
It was designed to be used on a project-by-project basis to provide necessary investments to revitalize distressed areas. Instead, it is used to build hotels that lose money and compete with unsubsidized hotels in the same area, to entice retail stores to relocate from neighboring communities, and simply to get other people — school and county taxpayers — to pay for a community center or street improvements that should be financed by the community that benefits.
This is why TIF is now under scrutiny at the Iowa Statehouse, and many are seeking reforms to return it to its intended use.
See the Iowa Fiscal Partnership TIF Reform page to get the full Iowa picture. 2/1/12
|  TIF: a cash cow for Iowa cities
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Abuse of tax-increment financing by cities in Iowa is a statewide problem. Johnson County offers an illustrative case study of why reforms are needed, and which reforms might help. Peter Fisher's report for the Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP) has received widespread attention leading up to the 2012 legislative session.
Download full report 15-page PDF (includes executive summary) 11/21/11
Download executive summary 2-page PDF
Download appendix 9-page PDF (includes maps of nine communities, TIF districts)
Read news release or download 2-page PDF
Read Cedar Rapids Gazette story: "Report critical of use of TIF in Johnson County" 11/21/11
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The 2012 legislative session offers lawmakers a timely opportunity to review and expand Iowa’s Earned Income Tax Credit.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership policy brief or download 3-page PDF 12/29/11
The test of this legislative session will be how lawmakers fill in the blanks left by Governor Branstad's Condition of the State address. That means reform of tax-increment financing, and improvements to working-family tax policy and preschool in Iowa.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership statement 1/10/12
A day before a legislative panel reviewed four state tax-credit programs, a new national report put a spotlight on Iowa’s poor treatment of low-income working families.
Read Iowa Fiscal Partnership news release 11/15/11
Read Des Moines Register story: "Have state tax credits worked for Iowa?" 11/16/11
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Not only do economic development deals often fall short on job creation or other benefits, states are highly inconsistent in how they monitor, verify and enforce the terms of job subsidies that cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. A national study gives Iowa a C-plus on that score.
Read Good Jobs First / IPP news release 4-page PDF 1/18/12
Read Good Jobs First executive summary 8-page PDF
Read Iowa appendix 2-page PDF
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A balanced approach to dealing with the federal debt will keep both revenues and spending on the table — including spending made through the tax code, or "tax expenditures." That kind of spending has the very same impact on the budget bottom line — and it was over $1 trillion in 2010, as shown at right. In fact, tax expenditures cost more than Medicare & Medicaid, and more than Social Security.
To judge the work of the "SuperCommittee" and Congress in the coming days, keep in mind that principle, as well as these. No real solution will increase income disparity or make the economic situation worse and cost jobs.
IPP's David Osterberg and Mike Owen made those points at a Heritage Area Agency on Aging forum, "Critical Issues Facing Seniors and People with Disabilities." Click on the graph at right for slides from the presentation November 2 in Cedar Rapids.
11/2/11
For more information and analysis about federal budget issues and impacts on Iowa — click here.
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A changing labor market is diverting workers from jobs that offer insurance toward nonstandard work or arrangements that make finding affordable insurance difficult, a trend that contributes to job instability, according to a new report.
Read full report 59-page PDF 10/5/11 NEW!
Read executive summary or download 2-page PDF
Read news release
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A greater share of Iowans were uninsured, with poverty up and median household income down in 2010 from the 2008 recession year, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.
The data released Thursday showed Iowa to have an uninsured rate of 9.3 percent in 2010, up from 8.7 percent in 2008, which was when the 2007 recession started showing its Iowa effects in job declines.
Read news release 2-page PDF 9/22/11
"At least 1 in 11 Iowans were without insurance in 2010. This presents policy makers with important information at a time some are talking about cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. Even without cuts, more people lack coverage." — IPP's Noga O'Connor
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| To replace lost jobs and keep up with population growth, Iowa will need to add 3,000 jobs a month over the next three years.
Read executive summary 9/2/11
Download full report
Read news release
“By any measure, this will be the longest recovery in Iowa’s modern history.”—IPP’s Noga O’Connor
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A little friendly competition can prove to be useful in getting Iowans to save energy, researchers say.
Read report or download 8-page PDF 6/2/11
Read news release or Will Hoyer's Iowa Policy Points post
"There’s another side of the expensive energy equation: Using less. Changing your behavior, even without greatly compromising your lifestyle." — The Gazette, Cedar Rapids — Sunday, June 5, editorial
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Iowa has well-qualified individuals performing important tasks and their compensation is less than that for similarly qualified employees in the private sector. None of Iowa's fiscal challenges result from excessive public employee compensation.
Download full report (PDF)
Read executive summary or news release 2/22/11
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