News outlets including the Toronto Star and MetroNews Toronto have cited IMFG’s recent paper on tax increment financing (TIF) and author Murtaza Haider in articles about the city of Toronto’s proposed use of TIF to fund transit expansion. In a Toronto Star article entitled Major unknowns, risks in funding Tory’s SmartTrack plan remain ahead of vote, and in the MetroNews article Funding risks remain ahead of SmartTrack vote, Murtaza Haider cautions that TIF presents some potential drawbacks:
“The more money we take out of the property tax revenue to put in the TIF bucket the less is available in the regular municipal coffers to pay for municipal services, whose costs are increasing at a rate faster than the inflation.”
IMFG’s recent paper Can Tax Increment Financing Support Transportation Infrastructure Investment? is also cited:
Most examples of TIFs used in North America are meant to raise sums ranging from tens of millions to a few hundred millions, according to a recent study published by the University of Toronto’s Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.