Guide to Community Planning in Wisconsin by Brian W. Ohm	Chapter 2:  Types of Plans & Overview of Implementation Tools
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Cities and villages may designate tax increment finance districts to finance public improvements through the property taxes generated on subsequent increases in the value of taxable property in the district.(91)  TIF distributes the costs of public improvements among all overlying taxing jurisdictions that ultimately benefit from an increase in the area’s valuation. Often the cost of financing public improvements for development is borne entirely by the community. Although overlying jurisdictions such as county, school or vocational and technical college districts may benefit from the development in the form of an increase in property valuation, they do not share in the costs of providing the necessary public improvements that make the development possible. Under TIF, the overlying taxing jurisdictions do not receive any tax revenues based on the increase in property valuation in an area or district until all improvement costs are paid. Thus TIF assures that all taxing jurisdictions benefiting from development pay a share of the costs.

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(91) Wis. Stat. § 66.46.

Wisconsin Statutes