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We need to find another way to do this

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Illinois

Cook County property tax increases hit Black and Latino suburbs the hardest, according to a report being released by the treasurer’s office today.

In west suburban Bellwood, the total amount of property taxes billed to homeowners went up 28.5% between 2019 and 2020. In south suburban Ford Heights, the commercial property tax tab went up 42%.

In fact, six of the 10 communities with the largest total residential tax increases were in majority Black or Latino areas, according to the treasurer’s office. For commercial property taxes, seven of the 10 communities with the highest increases were majority Black or Latino.

This is just not sustainable.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 1:53 pm

Comments

It’s so horrible. These tax rates make it impossible to start a new business or to sustain an existing business, so the tax base gets smaller and smaller, which drives up the rates, which overburdens local businesses, which close, which makes the tax base smaller…

Comment by Soccermom Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 1:56 pm
There was a way to help, the Fair Tax, but so many not only voted against a current tax cut for themselves, but for future tax cuts as well. They sure showed those Springfield politicians by not giving them more of their money.

Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:01 pm
The fair tax did not guarantee property tax relief.
Tie income tax to school funding. Get rid or greatly reduce the property tax for schools. Senior citizens would come out in droves to shift burden of school funding to income tax. And probably those people who would get hit with income tax would be younger people with families in schools while retirees would get a break. Live in a house for 30 years and payoff your mortgage and your real estate taxes are way hire than your original mortgage payment

Comment by DuPage Saint Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:12 pm
The tax rates in those areas are also a reflection of the politicians elected to represent those communities over the years and the decisions they made. So you could say in a way these communities did it to themselves.

Comment by BigLou Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:13 pm
Grandson of Man,
I believe the Fair Tax was for income tax rates at the state level but the property taxes are at the county level. I am not sure the fair tax could fix what is happening when so many people leave a given township like Ford Heights which still needs to try and fund the schools and such. I’m not sure what the solution is for those areas.

Comment by Maximus Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:14 pm
You will own nothing, and be happy

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:15 pm
Cook county residential property tax rates are lower then the rest of the state. The collar counties actual assessments are higher then similar properties in Cook county. Nobody likes property tax increases, but we all have them. They have a
larger increase in the collar counties in most cases.

Comment by DuPage Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:20 pm
As a white minority in a black south suburb, I can say that I had to appeal my property tax assessment to the Board of Review after the Assessor insisted my assessed value went up while comparables within a block of me went DOWN. The Cook County Assessor’s Office has manifestly failed to uniformly assess, and this last one was just a joke. I’m surprised I didn’t find all the comparables going up, which made mine all the more suspect. All 3 of the BOR analysts found I was over-assessed and the BOR reduced my assessed valuation. Not the first time it happened. Hope I’ve moved out of Illinois by the time the next assessment happens.

Comment by thisjustinagain Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:21 pm
Unsustainable? This has been Rich and Bloom Townships for years, contrary to what DuPage says. Not all Cook suburbs are equal to Elk Grove Village or other NW burbs near the airport. There has been legislative tax relief for portions of the south suburbs, but usually targeted to a specific property or group of properties slated for economic development, while the rest of the community pays the freight. It’s not too hard to find the house that sold for less than $50k with an annual tax bill of 20% or more of the sale price in the area.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:32 pm
==There was a way to help, the Fair Tax==

So, instead of Ford Heights residents paying 42% more in property taxes, they would’ve paid merely 40% more under the Fair Tax. I suppose some might call that help.

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:40 pm
=== So, instead of Ford Heights residents paying 42% more in property taxes, they would’ve paid merely 40% more under the Fair Tax. I suppose some might call that help.===

Can you show the math on that?

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 2:52 pm
==Can you show the math on that?==

The Fair Tax increased the property tax credit from 5% to 6%. A 42% increase on this property tax bill, net the extra one percentage point increase in savings from the credit, leaves you with paying 40% more. Technically, 40.5% more.

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 3:08 pm
-City Zen
They’d have likely paid less under the Fair Tax. The top 1% isn’t living in Ford Heights. We’ve got enough disinformation going on to many things… don’t add to it. Unless of course you are Ken Griffin, in which case I’d suggest you rest on your past success in confusing voters. Your return on that one likely sets up your next $200M real estate buy (or next 2).

Comment by Lincoln Lad Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 3:16 pm
Start by getting rid of classification which is ONLY used in Cook County. It’s the cash cow that funds the Dem Party for decades so unlikely.

Comment by 4 percent Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 3:25 pm
===The Fair Tax increased the property tax credit from 5% to 6%. A 42% increase on this property tax bill, net the extra one percentage point increase in savings from the credit, leaves you with paying 40% more. Technically, 40.5% more.===

(Sigh)

I’m your typical dorm room crystal ball “logic” you seemingly forget “things”

Because the Fair Tax flopped, other taxes were raised. “Things” dictated action.

You’re under the impression of the Fair Tax passed, nothing would be further pushed.

My point in asking you, it wasn’t a math question, it *was* a logic question how you assumed things would be stagnant.

We’ll never know is the correct answer.

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 3:48 pm
Higher taxes fuel economic growth, so isn’t this a positive development?

Comment by Southside Salami Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 3:52 pm
==They’d have likely paid less under the Fair Tax.==

Not enough to cover a 42% increase in property taxes. You’d need a Duggar-size family to break even under the Fair Tax.

==You’re under the impression of the Fair Tax passed, nothing would be further pushed.==

I suppose some of that extra $3 billion from the Fair Tax would’ve found its way to Ford Heights. Enough to move the needle significantly? Considering everyone in the state had their hands in that money, probably not.

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 4:20 pm
=== I suppose===

If you’re supposing, then huh know you don’t know.

Yet, you keep supposing, lol

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 4:24 pm
“because Madigan” for real.

Comment by Not A DJT Apologist Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 4:24 pm
Horrible marketing on the Fair Tax. Had they sold it specifically as property tax substitution, and they could have done that legislative, it would have overwhelmingly passed….but they did not.

Comment by Blue Dog Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 4:45 pm
The sad thing is that Ford Heights is one of the most poorest suburbs of Chicago, with many residents under the poverty line. Huge increases in property tax, either residential or commercial, are not going to be paid.

Comment by Moweaqua Indian Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 5:55 pm
Resettle population of winnetka in south suburbs?

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 5:58 pm
People in the south suburbs have figured out there are no consequences for not paying property taxes, because no one wants to buy property in Ford Heights or Harvey at tax sales, so collection rates are plummeting. https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-slowik-miller-collection-rates-st-0312-20210311-qu4s37e5s5gonnowbsyfcovpwe-story.html

Comment by Ted Slowik Tuesday, Aug 17, 21 @ 8:02 pm
The regressivity of property taxes is illustrated by huge increases on already high rates in poor suburbs. The source of the problem is funding education primarily via property taxes. Homeowners from poor suburbs that lack commercial development get socked with proportionately higher property taxes than affluent suburbs, and they still have underfunded schools. As the pie shrinks, rates go higher still. The inherent unfairness of taxing the people least able to pay the highest rate ought to be intolerable.

Comment by anon2 Wednesday, Aug 18, 21 @ 8:08 am

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