* Chris Kennedy on Daily Kos…
We live in a divided state. The rich live near the rich and the poor live near the poor.
The poor no longer have access to the tax base that the wealthy have access to. As a result, their schools will never be as good as the schools in wealthy communities if Illinois continues to rely on property taxes to pay for education.
We can’t allow that to happen anymore. We need to fix the way we fund our schools.
Reforming our property tax system and changing the way we fund education in Illinois is a central part of fixing the mess in our state.
Property taxes are determined by how you appraise the property – which means the wealthy and connected who can hire lawyers can do a better job of getting the value of their homes or commercial properties knocked down. And in the end, our public schools suffer. That’s a terrible system.
If you don’t pay your income tax, you’ll go to jail.
If you want to contest your property taxes, all you have to do is get a good lawyer, if you can afford it.
That’s not how we should operate in this country. We’re condemning the next generation to a life of economic oppression and segregation, and it doesn’t have to be that way.
We can do better by learning from lessons and better practices from around the country. We shouldn’t look to Springfield or to the Thompson Center for great ideas. We should look to other states. Look outward and forward, not inward or backward.
It’s time for bold action and fundamental change. If you agree, please sign up now to join our campaign for Illinois governor.
Thank you,
Chris
That looks to me like he might be thinking about adopting the old Dawn Clark Netsch tax swap plan. I asked the campaign what he’s proposing to actually do about property taxes and received this reply…
Stay tuned.
- Saluki - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:12 pm:
The Kennedy Campaign is an unfunny joke with a punch line that never seems to arrive.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:15 pm:
===Stay tuned===
Tick-Tock, Kennedy Crew, Tick-Tock.
You have your candidate opine and wring his hands, and yet no solution to the worrying?
Bizarre campaign.
- Arsenal - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:18 pm:
==If you don’t pay your income tax, you’ll go to jail.
If you want to contest your property taxes, all you have to do is get a good lawyer, if you can afford it.==
…
…where’s the contradiction?
- Doug - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:20 pm:
==If you don’t pay your income tax, you’ll go to jail.
If you want to contest your property taxes, hire the Speaker of the House.==
FIFY
- Ron - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:24 pm:
“If you want to contest your property taxes, hire the Speaker of the House.”
So true
- Strobby - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
I’m not sure there is a fix. Call in an air strike and start over
- Joe M - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:37 pm:
==If you want to contest your property taxes, all you have to do is get a good lawyer, if you can afford it==
I assume he means if you want to contest your property assessment. He still doesn’t seem to get the difference between one’s property assessment and one’s property tax.
- scott aster - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:38 pm:
This guy is a joke. He remindes me of Oberwise running for Gov and then the US Sen….finally ran for state sen and won. Maybe this Kennedy should move down the line.
- Robert the Bruce - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
While the Kennedy campaign has been quite sloppy, I’d give him some time here - a full reform proposal on school funding takes some time to put together.
- Anon0091 - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
Not ready for prime time.
- ChrisB - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:43 pm:
Maybe he’s going to advocate for a system of schools funded privately, perhaps by the business community, with selective enrollment that competes against the property tax funded schools. I’m sure that would get him a ton of votes in the education community.
/s
- Anon0091 - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:44 pm:
Robert, you sound like Rauner when he ran the first time. Just wait. It will come. Kennedy has been running since at least the D convention last summer. That’s almost a year.
- BeatRauner - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:51 pm:
You know he’s giving a speech on Tuesday. Maybe he’ll reveal his plan then?
- independent - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 2:57 pm:
I remember when (Republican)Senator John Maitland,schools districts and the Illinois Farm Bureau were all working in concert to change the school funding to increase income tax and then swap to replace Property tax as the main way we fund schools. This should have been done 20 years ago, maybe we can try again.
- Arsenal - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 3:20 pm:
==a full reform proposal on school funding takes some time to put together.==
Maybe he could just get on board with the plan Democrats have already been working on for a while, then.
- Shytown - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 3:51 pm:
“If you want to contest your property taxes, all you have to do is get a good lawyer, if you can afford it. That’s not how we should operate in this country. We’re condemning the next generation to a life of economic oppression and segregation, and it doesn’t have to be that way.”
What’s the word for someone who criticizes the very actions he’s/she’s taken? Hypocrite?
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 4:10 pm:
Kennedy continues to grease the skids to his ovlivion
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 4:10 pm:
Oblivion
- Mockingjay - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 4:38 pm:
There is some truth about the rich living near the rich and the poor living near the poor
- DuPage Moderate - Thursday, May 25, 17 @ 8:28 pm:
And the rich will continue to live by the rich - in a different state.
- Glengarry - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 1:15 am:
I’m still waiting for Bruce’s plan aside from destroying unions.
- Lucky Pierre - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 7:23 am:
His comment about not looking to Springfield or the Thompson center but to other states for answers is spot on.
Unfortunately for him he may have to switch parties to implement the successful policies as the states under control by democrats are drowning in debt
- Oswego Willy - Friday, May 26, 17 @ 7:30 am:
===His comment about not looking to Springfield or the Thompson center but to other states for answers is spot on.
… and yet YOU advocate Springfiekd to pass a property tax freeze.
Which is it, Springfield can’t solve the problem, or Rauner needs Springfield to pass a property tax freeze.
Have some coffee, maybe a warm towel on the forhead… you make zero sense.
===Unfortunately for him he may have to switch parties to implement the successful policies as the states under control by democrats are drowning in debt===
Are you a coward or a loser, living in the past. You told us, the Ditka quote. Why do you live in the past.
You lost that.
Also… Thompson, Edgar, Ryan, Pate, Daniels… just yesterday, you blamed everyone and everyone…
Your comment…
===Has Governor Edgar, Governor Thompson, Governor Blagoevich, Speaker Madigan, Senator Cullerton, Senator Emil Jones, Lee Daniels, Pate Phillip, Mayor Daley, Mayor Emmanuel, Arne Duncan…===
You are a mess. Now it’s just Democrats?
Please. Please stop your false narratives.