Cincinnati currently has a number of TIF (Tax Increment Financing) programs, and they include 20 TIF Districts and another 24 TIF Projects across our City. Hamilton County Auditor data shows that in 2018 alone $1,566,136,430 (that’s $1.5 BILLION) in property taxes were diverted into TIF funds, funds that are not reported to the community. 

When Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) gets “PILOT" (payment in lieu of taxes) payments to supposedly make our schools “whole” from losses from the City diverting property taxes to developers, CPS still loses. In 2018 alone, over $5 Million dollars was taken from our schools and put into TIF Funds; a net loss of $5,232,070 dollars.... in just one year.

Significant, negative effects of TIF’s on funding for school districts, on other public services, and on equitable development practices have been proven time and again in other cities. TIF’s have also been shown to cause other serious problems including draining tax revenue intended by voters for public services, handcuffing and hoarding funding to already-affluent areas, and corruption and exacerbation of unfair development practices that reinforce income inequality.

We demand that the Cincinnati City Council immediately freeze its out of control Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program and report to the community how much property taxes have been taken by the program AND how much money is in the TIF accounts RIGHT NOW. The public does not have access to how much money is sitting in TIF accounts now!

We further demand that NO NEW TIFs BE CREATED UNTIL A FULL ACCOUNTING HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO THE COMMUNITY.

TIF's are property taxes, taxes that we pay for - and we have a right to know where our money is.