Credit to the Reader’s Whet Moser for the suggestion of WTIF?!? as shorthand for “What’s a TIF?!?” Which, itself is shorthand for “What’s a Tax Increment Financing district?”

And that’s the question I want to ask of readers today.

Do you know how TIFs work?

Moser’s post  and coverage at Progress Illinois and elsewhere suggest that TIFs are an emerging issue that the public will sink its teeth into. And while I suspect they’re onto something, I also suspect that most people –even most engaged consumers of news such as those who frequent and write this blog — are at least a little unclear about what TIFs are and why we should be paying attention to them; that words like “increment financing” cause them to scratch their heads and say WFT?!? (What’s That Financing?)

I want to test that theory by asking you to respond candidly to this click survey:

Do you understand how TIFs work and why they’re controversial?(surveys)