The City gives back the sales tax on building material to the developer. The developer gets the total sales tax of all purchases made in Illinois, which is about 8% of the cost of the material. The cities portion of this is at most 2.5% of material, but usually less, since some items will likely be purchased outside of the City.
For this one time incentive, the city gets increased improved urban vitality, jobs, and increases in sales, utility, and property taxes. The other taxing bodies also benefit.
The spread sheet below illustrates the impact of a 5,000 square foot expansion of a retail center.
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