Tax lien sales are one way that cities and counties try to recoup outstanding tax dollars while forgoing interest and penalties which are collected by private tax lien purchasers. Historic tax credits are means by which private market actors, often distant from local community, generate revenue from development of historic and often long vacant properties. Sales taxes are a means for local governments to fund critical services. Too often these tools located within federal, state and local tax policy ultimately are utilized to generate private wealth for distant investors, while spreading all the public costs to local residents. This session will share a creative approach from Focused Community Strategies in Atlanta, Georgia, which acquired dozens of tax liens associated with vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties, acquired the land associated with the tax liens, and thereby created a pipeline of 60 parcels for affordable housing development. Reimagine Development Partners based in New Orleans, LA will share its groundbreaking approach to equitable development utilizing historic tax credits purchased by neighbors who then direct the development of their community and obtain the revenue and wealth generation from that development. And finally, Mayor Lisa Hick-Gilbert of Elaine, AR and Delta region leading architect Amoz Eckerson will share their first-of-its-kind visioning process for downtown Elaine that has led to the first ballot initiative for a local sales tax in Elaine history. Attendees will leave with an understanding of these diverse tax policy tools, and how equitable visions for vacant and deteriorating properties in concert with tax policy can be a tool for equity and repair rather than extraction for local residents and neighbors