Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is one of the most popular funding mechanisms used to finance downtown and other local economic development projects in the United States. However, California’s recent dissolution of its over four hundred Regional Development Authorities, many of which relied heavily on tax increment revenue to issue bonds that financed redevelopment activities, has caused considerable concern about the possibility of legal challenges across different communities of economic development practitioners. The Michigan Legislature is currently in the process of evaluating a series of state-level legislative proposals that potentially imply significant changes in the structure and participation of TIFs, possibly limiting the scope of this economic development option in Michigan. The opportunity costs of such modifications to TIF practice are not easily quantifiable for public policy makers or local economic development specialists because statewide data that could help analysts evaluate the extent and effectiveness of these tax capture tools simply does not exist. This proposal seeks to contribute to the current policy discussion on TIF reform by
developing the blueprint for a comprehensive, state-level database on the scale, scope and structure of TIF activities in Michigan (Michigan Repository for TIFs “MiRTIF”). Categorizing, classifying and standardizing the reporting on all active
TIFs in the state in a consistent manner, the MiRTIF is intended to provide a consolidated view for making meaningful fiscal comparisons at different levels of state and local government.