Suburban TIF districts collect $300 million in property taxes – Daily Herald*

"The scrutiny of TIF districts is really important because often they don't produce the results that they're touted for and sometimes produce very little in the way of results," said David Merriman, interim director of the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs. "In many instances, TIFs can shift the tax burden and are used to give subsidies to developers without sufficient transparency or quid pro quo for the subsidies."