By Jon Coupal

It generates few headlines, so many taxpayers are unaware that local governments continue to pump millions of dollars of tax increments -- property tax revenue usually withheld from schools and other essential services -- to fund pet projects that may not be in the public interest. This is all done under the guise of “Community Redevelopment.”

One of the most common misuses of redevelopment funds is to bribe businesses, like auto malls or big box stores, to relocate in a particular community. The result is often a bidding war between cities, each trying to outdo the others to provide the most generous subsidies and tax breaks to land a favored business. Reforms enacted in 1994 which permit tax sharing designed to address this problem have only been partially successful.

It is hard to find a taxpayer who thinks that government should be in the business of using taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers in the private sector economy, and this is why local officials try to operate their redevelopment schemes with as little notice as possible.

Read more at Howard Jarvis Tax Payer's Association.