TIFs explained with sharpies
September 5, 2013 8:17 PM Subscribe
I was seriously looking forward to someone explaining the tagged image file format. But I'll have to watch this at some point when I'm in a more fiscal mood.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:36 PM on September 5, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by infinitewindow at 8:36 PM on September 5, 2013 [5 favorites]
That was interesting — thank you.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:37 PM on September 5, 2013
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:37 PM on September 5, 2013
I really like the whiteboard explanation format. I would not get through as many of these kinds of explanations without it, and it makes it kind of fun.
Chicago politics seem complex at best, sketchy at worst.
posted by poe at 8:42 PM on September 5, 2013
Chicago politics seem complex at best, sketchy at worst.
posted by poe at 8:42 PM on September 5, 2013
Is TIFF obsolete?
posted by Brocktoon at 8:44 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by Brocktoon at 8:44 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
Incidentally, today is the opening day of the TIFF.
posted by cacofonie at 8:47 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by cacofonie at 8:47 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
I'm in if there are Sharpies. *swoon*
no it's not the fumes
posted by louche mustachio at 8:48 PM on September 5, 2013
no it's not the fumes
posted by louche mustachio at 8:48 PM on September 5, 2013
TIFF is still used widely in scanning of documents/records management.
posted by reiichiroh at 9:50 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by reiichiroh at 9:50 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]
Interesting. I'd never heard of a TIF. It seems like a lovely way to loot the future on the neighborhood scale. Now we just need a way to do the same thing on a household scale... perhaps issuing credit cards in the names of our unborn children?
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:33 PM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 10:33 PM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Interesting. I'd never heard of a TIF.
Noting that you're in Seattle, Washington happens to be one of the two states (the other is Arizona) that don't have this type of financing under state law.
I live in a city that's been called out in the literature for a high number of TIFs (26 active districts a few years ago). They're constantly debated at a low level, but mostly unanimously endorsed by the city council, and you could say that the city is very confident or even bold in its reliance on them. Most controversially, a recent TIF expansion helped lure a high-tech medical isotope manufacturer to town (NRC approvals in process, construction yet to begin).
I do believe they have benefits, but I also am certain that the public is poorly educated about TIFs, almost by design, and they can edge toward corporate welfare. The key problem with the "but-for" requirement (also in Wisconsin, but I'm not certain about all states) is that it has a bit of a flip side, being the way that relocating/expanding companies (rarely new ones) can sort of blackmail municipalities into essentially a "but-for" the TIF, "we go someplace else". It's also clear that industrial TIFs are the most effective, while commercial TIFs the least, since the latter mostly just move jobs and investment around rather than helping create new investment.
I find the argument compelling, however, that a TIF provides transparency and can bring accountability (e.g. a promise of X jobs for Y years) to the process of economic development agreements, and that TIFs represent a public involvement where a community can (in theory) choose to essentially invest in itself. This is possibly an improvement over back-room deals in smoke-filled rooms over three-martini lunches, and the general necessity that money follows money so rich communities with independently wealthy investors have great advantages over communities that are just a bunch of struggling ordinary schlubs. But then again, I'm not certain there are many great examples where the municipal leadership really is acting in the best interest of the taxpayers and citizens, and many where they explicitly are not. It's a political process prone to failure and derailment.
posted by dhartung at 2:29 AM on September 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
Noting that you're in Seattle, Washington happens to be one of the two states (the other is Arizona) that don't have this type of financing under state law.
I live in a city that's been called out in the literature for a high number of TIFs (26 active districts a few years ago). They're constantly debated at a low level, but mostly unanimously endorsed by the city council, and you could say that the city is very confident or even bold in its reliance on them. Most controversially, a recent TIF expansion helped lure a high-tech medical isotope manufacturer to town (NRC approvals in process, construction yet to begin).
I do believe they have benefits, but I also am certain that the public is poorly educated about TIFs, almost by design, and they can edge toward corporate welfare. The key problem with the "but-for" requirement (also in Wisconsin, but I'm not certain about all states) is that it has a bit of a flip side, being the way that relocating/expanding companies (rarely new ones) can sort of blackmail municipalities into essentially a "but-for" the TIF, "we go someplace else". It's also clear that industrial TIFs are the most effective, while commercial TIFs the least, since the latter mostly just move jobs and investment around rather than helping create new investment.
I find the argument compelling, however, that a TIF provides transparency and can bring accountability (e.g. a promise of X jobs for Y years) to the process of economic development agreements, and that TIFs represent a public involvement where a community can (in theory) choose to essentially invest in itself. This is possibly an improvement over back-room deals in smoke-filled rooms over three-martini lunches, and the general necessity that money follows money so rich communities with independently wealthy investors have great advantages over communities that are just a bunch of struggling ordinary schlubs. But then again, I'm not certain there are many great examples where the municipal leadership really is acting in the best interest of the taxpayers and citizens, and many where they explicitly are not. It's a political process prone to failure and derailment.
posted by dhartung at 2:29 AM on September 6, 2013 [3 favorites]
I wanted to see obsolete graphics formats described in pen and ink.
Obsolete? You apparently don't work in the print industry (which is, itself, far from being obsolete). TIFF is alive and well and still doing yeoman work as a primary high-resolution image file format.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:41 AM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Obsolete? You apparently don't work in the print industry (which is, itself, far from being obsolete). TIFF is alive and well and still doing yeoman work as a primary high-resolution image file format.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:41 AM on September 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Mod note: Hey guys, I know TIFFs might also be an interesting topic, but for this thread can we get back to the actual post topic (TIF: "Tax Increment Financing")?
posted by taz (staff) at 6:53 AM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by taz (staff) at 6:53 AM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
So essentially TIFs are ways for politicians to skim off the top of property taxes in poor areas on behalf of their backers rather than their constituents.
posted by srboisvert at 7:16 AM on September 6, 2013
posted by srboisvert at 7:16 AM on September 6, 2013
Oooooooo, Tegan and Sara.
posted by humboldt32 at 8:57 AM on September 6, 2013
posted by humboldt32 at 8:57 AM on September 6, 2013
Take a look at Allentown, PA. TIFs are the new way to get things done.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:03 PM on September 6, 2013
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:03 PM on September 6, 2013
Apparently not even Sharpies can make a TIF more interesting than the TIFF.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:33 PM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Brocktoon at 7:33 PM on September 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
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posted by tylerkaraszewski at 8:34 PM on September 5, 2013 [30 favorites]