Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a program where local government officials designate a geographic area for development and then finance certain aspects of the development with future growth in tax revenue generated within the designated TIF area. At its core, TIF assists development activities and subsidizes businesses in a TIF area using property or sales tax revenue generated in the TIF area to finance land acquisition, site preparation and cleanup, and infrastructure improvements that benefit private businesses that locate their operations on sites within the TIF area. Often, the financing arrangement involves a bond issue that provides upfront money to pay for the TIF programs. The debt service on the bonds is then paid from the tax revenue generated in the TIF. In most cases the revenue source for TIF programs is the property tax, but in some instances sales tax is used as a revenue source.