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* Bernie wrote the other day about Gov. Rauner’s sometimes misleading property tax freeze push…
One example is a Rauner campaign video, complete with sad piano music and distributed on social media last week, that featured CARLA BLANCHARD, a CPA of Lindenhurst. She spoke of how property taxes are “going up every year” and, “A lot of people are actually moving out of the area instead of sticking around here just to get away from the high property taxes.”
Lake County records show that the tax bill for the Blanchard home, valued at $362,838 in 2016, did go from $15,694 in 2015 to $16,423 in 2016. That is a 4.6 percent increase. But the tax rate actually dropped from 14.67 percent in 2015 to 14.28 percent in 2016. The assessed value of the home was increased from $112,960 to $120,946 over that year. […]
Another campaign video shows BILL LANDWEHR of Grayslake, who says he moved from Northbrook but may put his house on the market. […]
As in the other Lake County example, the tax rate from 2015 to 2016 actually went down, in Landwehr’s case to 14.53 from 15.63. His tax bill increased 6 percent, from $12,078 to $12,803. But that’s because his assessment went up nearly 9.5 percent, from $88,245 to $96,593. Landwehr also couldn’t be reached.
There’s more, so click here.
* The property tax issue is very difficult. People, up to and including myself, just don’t understand the system, which is part of the problem with the system we have. But I’ve actually heard people claim that Rauner’s freeze would put Speaker Madigan’s law firm out of business because nobody’s assessed valuations would rise. Um, no.
It’s one thing for John Q. Public to believe in a fantasy, but it’s quite another for the governor to use his office to promote those very same fantasies as fact.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:09 pm
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Well, to defend these poor folks in Lake County… when I lived in Lake County, we looked at a home in Grayslake. It was a nice size, had a nice yard, and was cheaper that anything else we could find… but… the property taxes on it were like $15,000 a year. And I was like, 15 grand, make our property tax payment like 50% higher than our actual mortgage payment! Yeah it’s nuts up there in Lake County.
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:21 pm
This is the problem. No one is saying if it’s a freeze on the bill, the assessment, the values or maybe the levy that individual taxing bodies can ask for? Sounds great when said in a commercial though.
Comment by DuPage Bard Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:24 pm
Promoting fantasies is SOP for Rauner and his acolytes.
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:25 pm
“It’s one thing for John Q. Public to believe in a fantasy, but it’s quite another for the governor to use his office to promote those very same fantasies as fact.” THIS!!!!!
spot on, Rich.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:28 pm
You may call them fantasies. I call them lies.
Tomato/Tomahto, I guess.
Comment by northsider (the original) Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:32 pm
Speaking of fantasies …
I’m still waiting for that balanced budget without a tax increase.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:37 pm
—
I’m still waiting for that balanced budget without a tax increase.
—
Well, at this point, you know how it’s going to look: fire 15,000 state workers.
Boom. Balanced.
Comment by Macbeth Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:45 pm
BTW — the firing won’t happen until the USSC says, okay, mandatory union dues are illegal.
That’s what Rauner is waiting for. That’s why he’s got his IPI folks in place. As soon as that gets a 5-4 ruling, it’s showtime.
Comment by Macbeth Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:46 pm
“…but it’s quite another for the governor to use his office to promote those very same fantasies as fact.”
He’s been doing that since 2014.
Comment by Northsider Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:48 pm
Wow… those are some really high tax rates. Is Lindenhurst in the Stevenson high school district? At least they have one of the top high schools in the state in their area. Not sure about the quality of the Grayslake schools. Either way, its kind of brutal. Would the enactment of SB1 have any impact on those tax rates?
Comment by Too Much to Handle Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:49 pm
These areas in Lake County are easy to pick on for high taxes. They experienced explosive growth throughout since the ’90’s, largely without any industry to make up the difference, thus they are mostly bedroom communities. They needed schools, roads, services, etc. and most developers were building homes that went for at least $300k. People moved here to get more home for their buck, go to new schools, and so on. Tax rates have been fair, but assessments have gone up to keep up with the demand. What did people expect?
Comment by Now What? Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:49 pm
Macbeth- such a tragedy. Average income 50,00″ and you only save 750,000,000 that ain’t 7billion
Kabooom
Comment by Publius Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:50 pm
Tax rates and assessed values are both moving variables. You either need to freeze both, or instead freeze the real taxes owed.
The key issue is that the woman in this story is paying 4.5% of her home’s value every year in property taxes. ($16,423 / $362,838 = .0452) As in, this woman is paying in property taxes the market value of her home every 23 years.
That is nuts. I just looked up what my relatives in Michigan pay in taxes - 1.8% of their home’s value.
Comment by sulla Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:51 pm
Too Much: Lindenhurst is mostly in the Antioch school district, a little bit feeding into Gurnee. Grayslake schools are excellent.
Comment by Now What? Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:52 pm
Would they prefer the value of their home went down? I get that it is hard to know the drivers of a property tax increase, but if you know that what you can sell your house for is going up (and, if you are a homeowner, you know that), you shouldn’t be surprised the taxes go up.
Comment by Montrose Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:53 pm
The PTAX freeze is very much a fantasy. There are many variables involved in PTAX and you have covered most of them. It’s purely a shell game in which legislators/GOV can say that they froze property taxes. PTAX revenue has been the only stable revenue source for school districts over the last six years. In our district, if the PTAX freeze had been in existence from 2015 to 2016 the average homeowner would have saved $31 in school tax (in the whole year). Most of any non-voted tax increase year to year comes from an increase in the assessed value of the house. A huge jump in one year indicates that the house was likely not re-assessed annually (some counties only re-assess every 3-5 years) so the homeowner gets socked all in one year instead of over a few years. It’s also true that the PTAX is deductible on both fed and state income tax filings.
Comment by CentralILSupt Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:55 pm
Macbeth. Fire all the state workers and your taxes are still going up. But thanks for playing
Comment by Rogue Roni Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:57 pm
If governor “not me” wants to lower property taxes so badly he should run for school board where he could actually lower them. After all the state doesn’t receive funding from property tax.
Comment by Publius Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:57 pm
Was just reviewing the official Rauner campaign presentation on the Turnaround Agenda. It had 16 elements, grouped into four areas.
One element was a Property Tax “Freeze for two years.”
Comment by walker Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:59 pm
Can only hope the media does more of this in order to expose the hypocrisy, duplicitous statements and often flawed policy of this administration and its newly formed “Paid for by taxpayers Cabal” - they have become part of the growing problem not the solution! SAD…
Comment by JC is just saying... Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 2:59 pm
===or instead freeze the real taxes owed===
Easier said than done. What happens if JB re-installs those toilets and fixes up the mansion next door? His dollar amount should be frozen too?
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:05 pm
I wonder if Blanchard and Landwehr go to North Shore cocktail parties/s
Comment by Flynn's mom Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:06 pm
Walker- sobthe governor moved the target again on property tax freeze again. Did he realize that is less than yhenhouse passed. Last time I checked 2 was less than 4 , but we are in a new political “reality” or fantasy
Comment by Publius Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:09 pm
Sulla-
Assessed value is not market value or “home value.” It’s, um, more complicated than that.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:12 pm
As I’ve said before, people who call for a property tax freeze have no idea what they’re talking about: they don’t know what goes into property taxes, how they’re calculated, and what can make the tax rate go up or down, to say nothing of the actual tax amount owed.
Or they do know and are lying to score political points.
If you want lower property taxes, you need a higher income tax. It’s that simple.
Comment by Nick Name Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:18 pm
If this is a fantasy then why all the griping a couple weeks ago from you same folks about how it was going to hurt schools and local government if the property taxes were frozen? What fantasy land do you people live in that you get to change your argument to fit your agenda?
Comment by Arock Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:34 pm
===If this is a fantasy then why all the===
The rest of that comment is truly illogical. The specific fantasy here is claiming a solution will solve a problem that it won’t even address.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:56 pm
===Assessed value is not market value or “home value.” It’s, um, more complicated than that===
And that’s the problem. It doesn’t have to be that complicated. Assessed value/market value should be tied to the “home value” in a way that property owners understand.
Because it is so confusing you have politicians saying we can just “freeze” property taxes and everything will be better.
Comment by Sox Fan Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 3:59 pm
RNUG for the win.
Comment by filmmaker prof Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:00 pm
- Arock @ 3:34
Because too few people in IL realize (except for Mike Madigan) that a key component, if not the most important, of IL property taxes has always been assessed value. I can’t blame anyone for not fully understanding IL property taxes, but I agree that many are talking out of both sides to suit their own narrative.
To even say “property taxes” in Illinois belies what is really happening, considering there are 3 parts to the calculation that is “property taxes”.
Comment by Downstate43 Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:09 pm
The way it has been explained to me is that in Cook County, the property tax bill is calculated by the budgetary needs of the taxing districts. The school districts and municipalities put their budgets in for the year ahead. Once the amount of money needed is known the resulting budget burden is then is allotted to each parcel of property in a taxing district.
Comment by w8forgodot Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 4:58 pm
Will “the property tax freeze” have any affect on the 3 parts to the calculation that is “property taxes”?
Comment by Mama Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 5:25 pm
== Speaking of fantasies … I’m still waiting for that balanced budget without a tax increase.==
I’m still waiting on my back pay from FY 11 that Gov Rauner promised he would get all of us “hardworkin’ state employees who deserve to be paid for the work they’ve done” when he came to my state office building shortly after he was elected.
Comment by Cardsfan Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 5:59 pm
Property tax rates are high for individuals in Lake County because much of the corporate tax base moved across the border into Wisconsin.
Look at all of the growth along from all of the development in Kenosha and Racine. Now we hear Foxconn might hire 10,000 people in Kenosha and Racine to build I phones. Imagine the ripple effect on local businesses. I guess Foxconn doesn’t think Governor Walker is terrible.
That is where are uncompetitive business environment hurts the worst, in border communities
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Jul 18, 17 @ 9:48 pm
Fair Market Value should be locked in, as California did in the 1970s with Prop 13.
This freeze, along with the levy freezes.
Why should a taxing body reap a windfall because a property value increased?
No additional services are being used by the homeowner.
My longer, more explanatory post on this is still in comment purgatory, or worse.
Comment by cdog Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 8:39 am
Thank you for this Mr. Miller. You are correct and I’m sick of the lack of understanding on this issue.
Comment by Try-4-Truth Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 9:03 am
For the record, even with the increase, corporate tax rates are still higher in Wisconsin than in Illinois.
https://taxfoundation.org/state-corporate-income-tax-rates-brackets-2017/
They were a lot higher until the recent increase. Income taxes are also progressive and higher in the State of Wisconsin than in Illinois. So am I to interpret that you are saying the State with the higher tax rates, both corporate and personal, is a much better business environment to the extent that they have been luring away Illinois businesses for years?
Comment by Benniefly2 Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 9:06 am
@Benniefly2
Was wondering the same thing.
To the post–I’m glad I’m not alone in my ignorance of how this works.
Comment by JPC Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 9:58 am
“Assessed value is not market value or “home value.”
It’s, um, more complicated than that. ”
Wrong. EAV is supposed to be 1/3 the market value for the home. Source: my city’s property assessor.
Comment by sulla Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:25 am
“===or instead freeze the real taxes owed===
Easier said than done. What happens if JB re-installs those toilets and fixes up the mansion next door? His dollar amount should be frozen too? ”
Sure, it should be frozen too. You’re acting like JB fixing up his property is a bad thing. We should be encouraging people to invest capital - it raises the taxable property base permanently. After the freeze ends, the taxing bodies are able to collect on the improved EAV.
We do this all the time in economic development for commercial property tax abatements.
1. You create a bi-lateral agreement between the property owner each taxing body that states that real taxes are fixed at the pre-project amount for a period of x years. Usually 5-10 years.
2. The property owner undertakes his/her project, making improvements to the property which raises the EAV.
3. When the tax bill comes during the abatement period, the property owner pays the full amount (increased EAV included) and then the taxing body issues a rebate for the difference between post-project and pre-project taxes. Thus, real taxes are held constant for the life of the abatement.
Comment by sulla Wednesday, Jul 19, 17 @ 10:43 am