St. Louis’s “Team TIF”: A community–academic partnership for tax incentive reform

ABSTRACT

Tax increment financing (TIF) and other development incentives have become American cities’ primary means of encouraging local economic development. However, these incentives typically receive less oversight than traditional government spending, potentially leaving them open to corruption and abuse. This article presents a case study of “Team TIF,” a novel community–academic partnership focused on government transparency and racial equity in the use of TIF and other incentives. We begin by describing TIF and tax abatement in the St. Louis context, including specific examples of their misuse. We then present the online and offline strategies that Team TIF has used to educate the public on this issue. We close with a discussion of possible local and state-level reforms.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the dedicated volunteers of Team TIF, Johnny Wu Gabbert for editorial assistance, and Mary McKay for helpful comments on an early draft of this article. We also acknowledge the countless individuals and groups that have found large and small ways to support the push for incentive reform. Finally, we recognize the protesters in the streets of St. Louis and Ferguson, whose assertion that Black Lives Matter grounds our work.

Notes

1. Of course, beyond community–academic research partnerships, universities can be direct players in urban development. For a framework for how universities and other anchor institutions can work toward equitable development outcomes, see Dubb, McKinley, and Howard (2013).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nay’Chelle Harris

Nay’Chelle Harris is a Masters Research Fellow in Housing Policy at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, where she will receive her MSW with a focus in Social Welfare Policy in 2018. She received her BA in Latin American Studies and History from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014.

Molly W. Metzger

Molly W. Metzger is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Domestic Social and Economic Development concentration at Washington University’s Brown School. She also serves as Faculty Director at the Center for Social Development and Faculty Fellow at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement. She received her BA in Women’s Studies from Carleton College in 2001 and her PhD in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University in 2012.