Ted joined Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson this week to discuss the host of problems in Illinois: the rise in Chicago crime, Illinois’ massive and corrupt government bureaucracy, the dangers of Amendment 1 and the state’s ever-higher taxes.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Close the revolving door for high-risk offenders in Cook County
- Two ‘Compelled Speech’ Matters Beg For Litigation In Illinois
- Secret union contract negotiations trample on Illinois taxpayers and parents’ rights
- Nine things Gov. Pritzker didn’t tell you about Illinois’ 2023 budget
- Current Progressive Agenda Is Relieving Harm From Past Progressive Agendas
- Illinois needs a multiyear restructuring plan to stop residents from fleeing
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Curious. We all have a list of what’s wrong with Illinois but what can you name that is RIGHT. Before you think about that try to list at least 10 things quickly 5 things maybe 3 or even 2. Not as easy as it sounds to name them. Thoughts anyone! Just trying to put a positive spin on things.
1) Housing prices did not rise as much as other states which makes our area affordable;
2) Many, many high paying jobs in the Chicago area
3) Good schools in smaller districts (a benefit of high real estate taxes in wealthy areas)
1)Factually inaccurate. NOT affordable. Housing costs as much monthly, but in Illinois those monthly payments are to pay for waste/corruption=zero value in return. Almost All people in America can buy homes of value for the same monthly mortgage+PROPERTY TAX ESCROW payments as Illinois. Those home rise in value. In Illinois, people pay the same monthly payments for homes which, in Illinois, fall in value and fail provide acceptable quality social services which people all over America expect in rreturn for their typical monthly mortgage payments. In Illinois, the additional 2%+ of total home value (that extra, wasted 2% of $200,000-$300,000… Read more »
2) high paying jobs seem to be attached to political corruption. Political elite carve-outs, TIF money or union payola is not sustainable, so jobs cannot be counted on to last long. Costs of lost opportunity, high costs of local taxations/transpo/healthcare provision (much higher than national average and poorer quality) and lost home equity must be debited from “high-paying jobs” net proceeds.
3) “Good schools”. That is not supported by data. Standard test scores indicate otherwise.
Provide supporting data? percentage of Stanford/MIT admissions relative to other ‘wealthy’ districts around America?
Here is the US News rankings. (not including the CPS magnet schools). There are 27,000 high schools in the US, and the Chicago area has quite a few schools in the top 2,700. https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/search?state-urlname=illinois&public=true Even random schools like Huntley High School are in the top 10% in the country according to US News. Of course US News isn’t the word of god, but, IL does have smaller school districts and much of your insanely high property taxes are funneled into the schools. People fight with me about this all the time, and disagree, but parents disagree , and it’s why… Read more »
Comparing apples to pandas.
You are defending outlier property tax rates and corrupt state spending with rankings that do not normalize output relative to input.
Home values in poshy suburbs are not “good values’ when normalized over a 20 year period of relative home price devaluation and 20 years of property tax rate excessive drain on household budgets which draw funds from other necessary household budget expenditure categories.
The property tax calculation in DuPage where I used to live was that while families were paying $25-35k in taxes per year on their $1mm houses, it made sense to them because they got to send their kids to top rated schools, and then deduct the full amount pre-SALT cap. That was a better scenario to them than staying in the city and sending their kids to private schools, which would have cost multiples of their DuPage property taxes. The sad part is that as DuPage got wealthier with more young “Karen” moms, it’s become much less Republican. Another reason… Read more »
Problem with this fallacy is that a $1mm home anywhere in America would also have good schools, but charge only $10k in annual taxes, and appreciate approximately 150% of what the Illinois home does over 20 year child-school lifespan. ( that’s based on assumption of Illinois % higher p-tax; 1.02 to the 20th power). Imagine what a household budget could do with that extra $15k-25k per year. Median income households are deeply affected. That extra $4000 property tax paid for no value in return (remember that average and excellent schools exist all over America, within the means of their communities)… Read more »
My wealthy neighbors had well paying jobs rooted in Chicago, not somewhere else. They did not want a $1mm house in Tulsa with $5000 property taxes. Tulsa High School doesn’t satisfy their perceived future for their kids like Hinsdale Central does. The high property taxes we recoil at are just the cost of doing business to them for the lifestyle they want to lead. They get value for what they pay because they have pretty good lives dependent on the suburbs, not the city. Most probably don’t travel out of DuPage much in a typical month. Country clubs, good restaurants,… Read more »
See, despite rumors to the contrary ain’t life in IL just grand, after all?
Only if you’re a 1 percenter. Wealthy people will live in Third World countries as long as they can maintain their lifestyle. Chicago is well on its way to Third World status, and many of the rich will remain.
For wealthy people IL represents a good value.
For middle class and poor people, it kinda sucks.
Yes, this is what I am saying. A $200k household income in DuPage will buy you a nice home in a great school district. $200k is something like 1 in 8 or 1 in 10 households in the state, and probably a lot higher in DuPage. Real Taxes are high but those real tax $$$ aren’t funneled to Springfield, they go directly to the local school districts. In CA, a $200k income will rent you a 2 bedroom apartment in south LA and the state will take 10% of it right off the top. This is the trade-off many of… Read more »
Spot on debtsor. There are already some cracks in the foundation that the rich locals in DuPage see, but it’s going to take a lot for them to exit while their kids are on the path to Hinsdale Central. Their deal is too good, their kids are always safe, and now that they can work remotely more than before, it’s even better. And my Metra commutes were almost all 25 minute express runs. To your point on real taxes, last time I checked years ago, the grade schools in Clarendon Hills where I used to live were top ten in… Read more »
I have to agree with Susan. Home prices are a lot cheaper and way more affordable in other states.
Housing prices are cheaper in IL too if you want to live in Danville or Marion! But if you want to live in a city, housing prices in other states have gotten more expensive than IL. All of FL is up 30-40% just in one year, Nashville is up 25%, Indy is up 20% YOY. I love pointing out Salt Lake City which used to be cheap and affordable, is now so expenive, the locals can’t afford to live there. My $350k house in some rando red suburb of SLC is $500k. This is basically my house, same SQ feet,… Read more »
We pay for the price of corruption with each dollar we spend in Illinois. God only knows how more we pay with the “corruption tax”. State is mismanaged like no other. Kleptocracy like Proft always says. Positive, let me try. Culturally, Chicago has always been a great balance for every walk of life. Something for everyone. Jobs, a home, good public transit, good food, ideal for the middle class. Not sure about that anymore 😢🙁
Quality parochial schools that are not overly priced, safe, and do NOT teach Marxism and CRT.
Flagging this article for misinformation. JB said everything’s good. You both can’t be right!
I tend to believe JB,cuz he says hes working for ALL Illinoisans,I believe him
LOL!