Abstract
Tax Increment Financing is technique for financing a capital project from the stream of revenue generated by the project. It can be an important community development tool for attracting the development that will generate new taxes. The study deals with the case of the former Chicago South Side's Stockyards closed production in 1980, leaving vast parcels of vacant and blighted land and buildings. At the time, few federal resources were available to rebuild the area's infrastructure. Through a series of industrial and commercial tax increment financing (TIF) districts, the city has successfully brought this once-thriving industrial center back to life. TIFs provided the funding mechanism to clean up the stockyards and prepare land for redevelopment. The stockyards Industrial Park is now home to modern industrial facilities for large companies. In this age of dwindled state and federal funding, the Chicago Stockyard have become a national model for urban economic development.