Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts set aside the growth in property taxes for development deals instead of sending it to schools, parks and city services. TIF Abolition ends the use of TIF districts as a second budget that runs outside the city's regular budget. The city stops creating new districts, lets existing ones expire, and uses the city's share of the freed money to get the Chicago Remodel Fund, the voter-approved neighborhood line on the property tax, started. After that, the money stays in the city's operating budget to close deficits while the districts shut down.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
ABATE
TIF Abolition
Your property taxes should go back where they belong: to your schools, parks and city services.
In 2024, Chicago's 108 TIF (tax increment financing) districts collected about $1.6 billion that would otherwise have gone to schools, parks and city services. I'll start winding the districts down on day one.
When a TIF district is created, the property values inside it are frozen for up to 23 years. Schools, parks and the city keep getting the taxes on the frozen amount. The taxes on everything above it go into a separate fund for development deals. So as your neighborhood's values rise, the growth doesn't go to your schools. It's like having every raise you get for 23 years go into a side account someone else controls, while your bills keep coming.
And your tax bill goes up because of it. The city's costs keep growing while the property value that can be taxed to pay them is frozen in 108 districts, so the tax rate goes up on everyone else.
The fix starts on day one: no new TIF districts and no extensions. The existing ones expire on schedule. Every year the city returns as much TIF money as it can (this is called declaring a surplus), so schools and parks get money back during the wind-down instead of waiting. And an independent audit tests every district's claim that the development wouldn't have happened without it.
At first, the city's share of the money freed from TIF districts gets the Chicago Remodel Fund, the plan's fund for rebuilding neighborhoods, started. Once the Remodel Fund's voter-approved line on the property tax is being collected, that share goes back to the city's operating budget, where it has always gone, and closes deficits the city already has while the districts shut down. It's never borrowed against, and it's published every year. From then on, investment in neighborhoods comes from the Remodel Fund, and pensions are paid by their own line on the property tax, not by TIF.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't add a new tax. It sends the growth in your neighborhood's tax base back to the schools, parks and services it was supposed to fund.
It won't stiff anyone. Bonds and debts already pledged against TIF money get paid, which is why this is a ten-year wind-down, not an overnight shutoff.
It won't abandon neighborhoods that need investment. That comes from the voter-approved Remodel Fund instead of deals made one district at a time.
It won't punish districts that delivered. The audit looks for districts that clearly fail the test they were created under, and those become candidates for ending early.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
What replaces TIF's neighborhood money? The Chicago Remodel Fund, a voter-approved property tax line run by an independent board, rebuilds neighborhoods block by block, from water mains to sidewalks and parks, instead of deals made one district at a time.
Chicago Remodel Fund →
Then how do neighborhoods that were passed over get investment? The plan gives each neighborhood its own downtown, called a frunchroom, with a free public plaza and a main street you can walk, and the most disinvested sites that qualify go first.
Complete Neighborhoods: The Frunchroom →
What other bad deals is Chicago still paying for? The 2008 parking meter lease runs until 2083, and Dibs On Our Streets challenges it. The Public Assets Protection Act sets strict tests so the city can't make deals like it again.
Dibs On Our Streets →
Public Assets Protection Act (PAPA) →
Who audits it? Honest Government puts the city's spending and contracts on public dashboards and takes away the city decisions that can be sold.
Honest Government →
Does any of this money go to pensions? No. Pensions are paid by their own voter-approved line on the property tax, which pays off the debt on a fixed 20-year schedule and then ends.
Keeping Our Promises: Paying Off the Pension Debt →
FISCAL IMPACT
Revenue Generating
RENOVATION STEP
Abate
SHOW THE FULL POLICY DETAILS
01
Where it ranks
HOW WE DELIVER IT · PAY FOR IT
#3 of 6
PAY FOR IT
67.5 / 100
Enables
Scale
Long-term
PROMISING TIF (tax increment financing) districts set aside the growth in property taxes for development deals. Ending them returns that money, about $1.6 billion in 2024, most of it to other taxing bodies like the schools and parks. The city's share pays for the Chicago Remodel Fund's first programs until the fund's own property tax line is collected. Money goes back to schools, parks and city services as the districts wind down. Residents feel it indirectly.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
What a TIF is
A tax increment financing (TIF) district freezes the taxable value of the property inside it. For up to 23 years, the taxes on any growth above that frozen base go into a separate TIF fund instead of to schools, parks and the city. Chicago has 108 active districts.
No new districts
From Day One, the mayor's office stops proposing new TIF districts. Districts are created by City Council ordinance, so this needs no new law.
No extensions
Existing districts expire on their original 23-year schedule. None gets extended unless a real public-interest case is made and approved in public.
The largest surplus every year
Each year the city declares as surplus every TIF dollar that isn't needed for existing commitments. The surplus is split among all the taxing bodies by their share of the tax bill, so schools and parks get their share every year of the wind-down instead of waiting for districts to expire.
Audit the 'but for' claims
Every district had to be certified as passing a legal 'but for' test: the development wouldn't have happened without the subsidy. An independent audit tests all 108 districts against it. Districts that clearly fail can be considered for closing early.
Debts already pledged get paid
Bonds and other obligations already pledged against TIF money are honored. That's why TIF is wound down over ten years instead of being shut off all at once.
Where the city's share goes
The money freed for the city first gets the Chicago Remodel Fund started. The Remodel Fund is the plan's permanent fund for neighborhood programs and rebuilding, paid for by a voter-approved line on the property tax. The freed money carries it until that property tax line is collected. Once that property tax line and the fund's other sources replace it, the city's share stays in the operating budget, where it has always gone, and closes deficits the city already has while the districts shut down. It doesn't go to pensions. The Pension Promise line, a separate voter-approved property tax line in the Keeping Our Promises policy, pays the city's pension payments above the state minimum. It's never borrowed against, and how much there was and where it went is published every year.
Not new money
The city already puts its share of each year's surplus into its operating budget ($232.6 million of the record 2026 surplus), and part of the tax growth returning from expiring districts is pledged to repay the city's $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond. That's why the freed money only carries the Remodel Fund until its own money arrives; it isn't a permanent source. It's also smaller than the record year: for 2027 the city expects to declare about $340 million in surplus. About $75 million of it comes back to the city.
03
What it costs
Independent audit of all 108 districts
Not estimated in the policy
TIF revenue, all 108 districts, 2024
$1.59B
City of Chicago's share of the 2026 TIF surplus
$232.6M
Projected 2027 TIF surplus / city's share
~$340M / ~$75M
Freed city share
Starts the Remodel Fund, then stays in the operating budget to close deficits; the size depends on each district's debt schedule and how fast it winds down
Ending TIF adds no new tax and has no program cost of its own beyond the audit. The rows show the scale of the money involved.
04
What it takes to make it happen
MAYOR
Propose no new districts from Day One, commission the audit in Month One, and propose the maximum surplus in every budget.
CITY COUNCIL
Approve the surplus in each annual budget, and pass ordinances to end districts early where the audit supports it and the debts allow.
SPRINGFIELD
Ending TIF permanently means changing the state TIF law. The pause on new districts, the audit and the yearly surplus policy can start without it.
VOTERS
No referendum for TIF Abolition itself. The Remodel Fund's property tax line, which takes over from the TIF money, goes to voters on the March 21, 2028 primary ballot.
05
Timeline
DAY ONE
The city stops creating new TIF districts.
MONTH 1
The independent 'but for' audit of all 108 districts begins.
MONTH 3
The policy of declaring the largest possible surplus every year takes effect.
YEAR 1
The city's freed share starts the Chicago Remodel Fund's first programs, before the fund's property tax line is collected.
ONCE THE PROPERTY TAX LINE IS COLLECTED
The city's freed share stays in the operating budget and closes deficits while the districts shut down. The amount and where it went are published every year.
YEARS 1-10
Districts expire on schedule, without extensions.
06
Where it's worked
Chicago today
Chicago's 108 TIF districts took in a record $1.59 billion for tax year 2024.
SOURCE: COOK COUNTY CLERK, 2024 TIF REPORT ↗
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Chicago today
The 2026 budget declared a record $1.01 billion TIF surplus. The city's share was $232.6 million, about 23%, and Chicago Public Schools got $552.4 million. The Cook County Treasurer splits surplus by each body's share of the tax bill.
SOURCE: CIVIC FEDERATION, DECEMBER 1, 2025 ↗
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Chicago
A University of Illinois Chicago study estimated that more than 98% of the growth in property values inside TIF districts would have happened without TIF, by comparing parcels near TIF projects with parcels farther away. An outside expert quoted by the Sun-Times said the figure is likely inflated because the two groups may not be comparable.
SOURCE: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, AUGUST 26, 2026 ↗
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Chicago
A peer-reviewed study of Chicago's TIF program found no evidence that it increased employment, business creation or building activity once the choice of which areas got TIFs was accounted for.
SOURCE: T. WILLIAM LESTER, URBAN STUDIES (2014) ↗
(OPENS IN A NEW TAB)
Chicago today
The city's $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond is to be repaid from property taxes on the growth that returns to the regular tax base as TIF districts expire.
SOURCE: CIVIC FEDERATION TESTIMONY, APRIL 11, 2024 ↗
(OPENS IN A NEW TAB)
Chicago today
The city projects a $882 million budget gap for 2027 and expects to declare about $340 million in TIF surplus. About $75 million of it would be returned to the city if the City Council approves.
SOURCE: WTTW, SEPTEMBER 3, 2026 ↗
(OPENS IN A NEW TAB)
07
Sources
Cook County Clerk, 2024 TIF Report
Civic Federation, December 1, 2025
Chicago Sun-Times, August 26, 2026
T. William Lester, Urban Studies (2014)
Civic Federation testimony, April 11, 2024
WTTW, September 3, 2026
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