Can Someone explain to me, IN ENGLISH not business-ese, what TIF really does?

TIF stands for Tax Increment Financing. In plain English the way it works is that a municipality uses the money it gets from selling bonds to make improvements (roads, new factories, redevelopment projects and so on). The bonds are to be paid off by the increase in the taxes arising from the improvements.

For example, City A builds a new factory for the XYZ corporation. The local income tax on the payroll is the Tax Increment and is used to pay off the bonds. In order to induce XYZ to move to City A the city will grant tax concessions to XYZ.

It sounds like Smoke and Mirrors financing

Jerry-the-bookkeeper

TIF allows companies to borrow money at low rates. They don't pay all of the real estate taxes. Hopefully they are used in depressed areas and new employers will come in and hire employees that will buy stuff and pay taxes