Jeff Cox on TIFs

I only just found UI Prof and Iowa pol Jeff Cox's published Letter to the Editor in the Des Moines Register last Saturday:

Next: Go after tax increment

The Iowa Legislature had one of its better days when it overrode Gov. Tom Vilsack’s veto of a bill setting reasonable limits on the use of eminent domain. Legislators should now turn their attention to another widely abused tool of economic development, the Tax Increment Financing District (TIF). Iowans who are driving down Interstate 80 and see the huge Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville probably assume that its owners pay local property taxes. They are wrong.
Through a TIF, property tax money from that development is diverted to investors in the mall. Throughout Iowa, local governments are finding their budgets shredded through the hidden mechanism of the TIF.

— Jeff Cox, Iowa City.

Since Anonymous' comments seem as applicable to Jeff's Letter as to my Blog entry, it would be interesting to know Jeff's reactions.