FARGO (KFGO) - A conservative political watchdog group has launched a web ad and video which a spokesman says is designed to educate Fargo taxpayers about the high cost and ineffective use of tax increment financing, or TIFs.
Jason Flohrs, Executive Director of the North Dakota Chapter of Americans For Prosperity, says Fargo families are being taken advantage of by the TIFs that rely on tax dollars that go toward "padding the bottom line of private businesses." He says the tax breaks are "corporate handouts" that end up raising property taxes.
City Commissioner Tony Gehrig, a long-time opponent of the tax incentives, says recent notifications of increases in home valuations has taxpayers listening. He says if property owners are mad about their tax bill, there is "one simple way to reduce that bill." He says that solution is to end the tax breaks, which he says would lower property taxes, on average, by seven percent.
City leaders who support the incentives say the programs are necessary to attract business and new development. The TIF's freeze higher property taxes for years on the promise the city will see more tax revenue once they expire and the properties increase in value.