Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer
April 22, 2026
No Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The Bring Chicago Home proposal would more than triple the buyer’s property transfer tax, generating an estimated $163 million in funding for programs that combat homelessness, according to the campaign’s website. Home sellers would continue to pay a transfer tax of $3,000. The proposal is sponsored by nine Chicago aldermen.
SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
FOLLOW US
WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES
Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
34 Comments
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.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
*Definition of a mansion: a home in Chicago.
How many homeless owned homes but were forced out when they couldn’t pay taxes? Cap property taxes at some number and then force government to live within the budget. Yeah right…
The only answer is taxes, no matter what the question or situation, just tax, tax, tax, and then tax some more.
$1 million is just the starting point. When the tax doesn’t bring in enough money, and the number of homeless continues to increase, watch it drop to $750k, then $500k. The goal of the socialists is to destroy the city you knew, and rule over what’s left. They don’t care if Chicago becomes a wasteland as long as they keep their money and power. And remember, Stalin came after Lenin. Chicago can and will get way more oppressive and violent. Get out while you can! Go where you’re wanted. Move to a state that will welcome you, where you can… Read more »
For once, I’d like to see a new tax that only impacts thing going-forward. In this case, the only people subject to this tax should be sellers that bought Chicago real estate AFTER the law was enacted. That way they knew what they were getting into.
It’s a dumb rule for a number of reasons, most notably that if your home sells for $1 million, that entire amount is subject to this new tax, but if it sells for $999,999, you don’t pay one dime of this new tax.
On top of that, the final sales price will reflect this tax, meaning while the buyer technically pays the tax, the seller bears the cost via a lower sales price.
Here’s how it should be done to avoid the tax.
1st. Rip out the toilets so that should make the property worthless.
2nd. Sell the toilets for the asking price of the home. There is no personal property tax in Illinois so the toilets are just items in the house like a wine collection so it should save you lots of taxes.
3rd. Get a large trench coat and hang the toilets in the coat and say Psst! Wanna buy a toilet for 500K. I have 6.
This would give another meaning for LoopHole.
Touche’
Once the millionaires leave, preceded by the working class and middle class, Chicago will be one big Cabrini Green crater
The problem I have is with the understanding of homelessness. Yes, there is likely a shortage of affordable housing stock, but the real problem with homelessness lies with mental illness and drug addiction. These are not easy issues to solve, and money spent has to be infused with extreme accountability.