By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Gov. J.B. Pritzker promised to cut property taxes in 2020, part of his State of the State speech. Even then he recognized that those taxes, some of the nation’s highest for decades, were a real drag on Illinois homeowners.
Here’s what he promised:
“Property taxes in Illinois are simply too high. And that’s why it’s time to put the best ideas to work from both sides of the aisle. Local governments continue to max out their levies even when they don’t need to. There are perverse incentives in state law that encourage that. We can change the law to support local governments and lower property taxes. And with nearly 7,000 units of government in Illinois, it’s time to empower local taxpayers and voters to consolidate or eliminate them. [Emphasis added].
Nearly four years on and Pritzker and his Democratic-led supermajorities have done nothing for homeowners. The property tax commission he put together to lower taxes was a flop and many laws that have been passed since he took office have increased property taxes. The pain has only gotten worse.
Illinois falls dead last nationally when it comes to home value appreciation since 2000 – worse even than Michigan, which suffered the Detroit bankruptcy. Property taxes are a big reason for that. The Tax Foundation just released new numbers showing Illinoisans still pay the nation’s second highest taxes.
Then there’s the threat of even more bad news. Illinois leads the nation for counties most at risk of a housing market downturn – as if residents in cities like Decatur can handle more losses.
And about those most-in-the-country units of government, nothing’s been done there either. It’s just part of the massive government bloat that ensures property taxes only go higher.
Here are some of the reasons why it stinks to be a homeowner in Illinois:
1. Illinois is the nation’s worst state for home appreciation.
Yes, home prices have jumped in some parts of Illinois in the last couple of years. Pandemic disruptions and the trillions poured into the economy by the federal government have boosted nominal values as people have escaped Chicago and moved to the suburbs.
But the short-term blip can’t hide the fact that Illinois home values, after taking into account inflation, have only appreciated 13 percent over the past two decades – the nation’s worst growth.
Compare that to Texas and Florida, where home values are up 100 percent, or to the mountain states like Montana and Idaho where prices have grown 117 percent and 139 percent, respectively. Even Illinois’ neighbors’ prices – though worse than the national average – still managed to grow two to three times more than in Illinois.
For Illinoisans hoping to grow their property nest-eggs for retirement, beware. It’s likely to get worse. Illinoisans are leaving in record numbers and the state’s pension crisis is pushing governments further into debt. Higher taxes are inevitable.
2. Twelve Illinois counties among the 50 property markets nationwide most ‘at-risk’ of a downturn
What’s worse, home values here are in danger of falling. Illinois is home to 12 of the nation’s 50 housing markets most at-risk of a downturn according to ATTOM Data Solutions, a company that provides comprehensive data on property values and taxes across the nation.
Macon County, home of the struggling city of Decatur, is ranked the 2nd-most at-risk market in the entire country, behind only Essex County, New Jersey.
And the Chicago metro area is, collectively, among the most “vulnerable to decline” markets along with the New Jersey-NYC metro area.
Property in DeKalb County is ranked the 15th-most at-risk of a decline. Cook County is 24th. Will County is 41st and Kendall County is the nation’s 46th most at-risk.
Downstate communities besides Decatur are also in trouble. St. Clair County, where East St. Louis and Belleville are located, is the nation’s 17th-most at-risk market. And Peoria is 34th.
Many of those places are already struggling with poor economies, dismal educational outcomes and fleeing residents. A property market downturn will only add to their woes.
3. Illinois property taxes are still the nation’s 2nd-highest
One of the reasons why Illinois’ home prices are so low is due to the 2nd-highest property taxes in the nation. The more of a homebuyer's income that has to go to property taxes, the less they have to pay up for a home, which depresses home prices.
Illinois’ 2.1 percent rate is only beaten by New Jersey’s 2.2 percent rate, though whether Illinois or New Jersey takes the top spot for property taxes tends to change depending on who you ask.
Regardless, Illinois property taxes are more than double the effective rate that residents in Missouri pay (1.0 percent) and 2.5 times what Indianans (0.8 percent) and Kentuckians (0.8 percent) pay.
4. Illinois residents pay for too many local governments.
Illinoisans are swamped by many overlapping and duplicative governments. Nearly 7,000, the most in the nation.
Yes, local control is important, but Illinois often has too many taxing governments for one person to keep track of, let alone to try and keep accountable. Some residents, like those living in parts of Elgin, are subject to 13 taxing governments – from the county to the city, township, library district, park district, cemetery district, and many, many more.
All those governments have bureaucrats that run them, and that means additional property taxes to fund the salaries, benefits and pensions of those officials.
We outlined the expenses of one of Illinois’ worst offenders, the state’s 850-plus school districts, in Administrators over kids: Seven ways Illinois’ education bureaucracy siphons money from classrooms.
Nothing done
Gov. Pritzker needs to be held accountable for his failure to do anything about property taxes and the state’s too-many 7,000 units of local government.
He’s got no excuse for breaking the promises he made. He certainly can’t blame the few Republicans in office – the governor has the supermajorities in both chambers to pass whatever “reforms” he desires.
Unfortunately, making property taxes more bearable is not among Pritzker’s priorities. His four years of no action is proof enough of that.
Until that changes, Illinois will remain one of the worst states to own a home.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Johnson approves progressive ‘mansion tax’: Hits Chicagoans when they’re down
- Chicago’s commercial ‘doom-loop’ could result in a property tax hike on homeowners as large as 22%
- Thirty years of pain: Illinoisans suffer as property tax bills grow far faster than household incomes, home values
- Illinois’ Pritzker promised to lower property taxes. He’s only made them worse.
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.
A good analysis metric is: “Percentage of Household Income” necessary to pay property taxes. A household must have a budget, and a required allocation for property taxes is not then available for other budgetary needs or discretionary spending. BLS produces detailed Household Expenditures data on a regular basis. In America, households across all regions and income brackets pay around 4% of hh income for real estate taxes. In Woodstock Illinois, with a 3.5% property tax rate, households must pay around 9% of household income for property taxes. Here is an example: Home assessed at $200,000 after deducting homestead exemption. P-tax… Read more »
That obscene amount for property tax is really significant for many ‘households’, particularly retired people. And what do we have to show for all that family sacrifice? Mostly just well fed, arrogant, Marxist public employee unions.
“Property tax as percentage of household income expenditure ” is a great way to quickly measure economic health of a community.
If it’s around 4% (national mean) the community is probably healthy.
Below 4% indicates high real estate values and thriving economic health.
Substantially above 4% (like Woodstock at 9%) indicates a local economy CTD (circling the drain).
I agree but in Rockford and other communities there are many who pay next to nothing in property taxes since the home value is $30K or less then add in the homeowners and seniors deductions brings the taxes to near zero. Then on the far east side people pay over $7K on a $200K or less home but not sure of their income. Homes over $300K are usually more professionals like doctors/lawyers/retired school supers where % of income to taxes is still low. Home values in general are not that high on average in Rockford But the homes at $375K… Read more »
The variables used to calculate “Property tax as percentage of household income expenditure ” are public information. Here is where to find them: 1. ( Rockford) District Rates by Taxcode Report Winnebago County on County Clerk website. 2. BLS publishes Household Expenditures survey available on their .gov website. 3. Median household income by region is published on Census, a .Gov website. Census American Community Survey also publishes median home value by region. If you have tax rate, median home value, median household income for a region you can calculate the economic health of that region. As you point out, higher… Read more »
Thanks!!!
But doesn’t Rockford have one of the highest achieving K-12 programs in Illinois?
Haha I crack myself up!!
Another metric is property tax paid as a percentage of market value.
Old Joe,
Property taxes up substantially and market value essentially flat for the past 20 years.
Not headed in a good direction!!
Da Judge
Yes certainly. That is Property Tax Rate.
In Woodstock that tax rate is 3.5% of full fair market value (after exemptions applied).
In America, that tax rate is below 1%.
A high Property tax rate indicates that taxing bodies are spending beyond the means of the taxed community.
( Because tax rate = Levy divided by EAV. When numerator (taxing/spending) rises without commensurate rise in denominator (home values), the tax rate goes up.
Sue, just for giggles I checked on my last crib outside of Detroit. The current owner pays around 1.4% of current market value annually in property taxes. I don’t believe there’s anything comparable in the state of Illinois.
Let me get this straight. Over the last twenty years (approx 2002 – 2022) real estate value, in real terms, appreciated thirteen percent. If my numbers are off please correct me.
Looking at this site: https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-cook-county-suburbs-property-tax/9382389/
allows one to look (see the link at the bottom of the page) at the percent tax increase over the last twenty years.
If there is a better site to calculate the percent increase in property taxes over the last twenty years please share it.
Over 20 years our property taxes increased 75%; value of our home has not.
It’s a sobering analysis.
Wirepoints’ report on property taxes found that residential property tax bills per household have grown 2.1 times more than median household incomes since 1990.
Check it out here: https://wirepoints.org/thirty-years-of-pain-illinoisans-suffer-as-property-tax-bills-grow-far-faster-than-household-incomes-home-values-wirepoints-special-report/
A politician that makes pie in the sky promises and then tries to sweep them under the rug. How novel. Like Mayor Tupac, comrade XXXL throws a good line of BS out there and then when confronted with the fact that it can’t work and doesn’t, it’s on to something else or playing the race card.
The population segment to worry about chasing out is medical professionals. They are realizing that a career-lifespan spent here is not only wasted, it is spent to benefit humans who do not share certain values of honor, integrity, and decency. And, it will cost a person so much that after a career-span here they won’t be able to afford a house anywhere for what the Illinois domicile will fetch. Med-pros in Illinois: Highest income tax bracket (their ‘tax deferred retirement contributions’ are capped by fed law, unlike IL public-pension-entitlement recipients who get phantom income via this soft-dollar IRA contribution-cap-exempted entitlement… Read more »
Most doctors don’t want to serve medicaid patients because their health is usually atrocious and medicaid pays pennies on the dollar. There’s only so many communities that can afford the private insurance plans. Our problem is that the state has a massive and growing medicaid population (especially so now with illegals) so unless you’re a top doctor (and increasingly, a diversity hire at some woke suburban hospital), you’re stuck working in some medicaid practice, meeting hundreds of train wreck patients a day, in a crappy office suite, making several dollars per patient. What doctor works his butt off for three… Read more »
Illinois voting/non-voting population can learn to live, or not, without actual healthcare provision
(insurance? Sure, plenty. Actual medical provision? …well, that’s one of those Carnival Barker issues).
Illinois Gov can fly private jets (is Jenny T invited?) to regions where medical provision is not …what it is in Illinois.
Dont forget the outrageous cost of Malpractice Insurance in this state. It drove my college roommate out of this state. He initially opened a practice here but ended up leaving. He now has a 100+ provider practice in Denver.
Yup.
Primary care PA for 25 yrs here. Left IL 10 yrs ago for that exact reason. Why live there when I can get a job anywhere?
Oh, and IL Medicaid pays $30.47 for a typical office visit. Here in NC? $92. And with way more of your patients having Medicaid in IL, it’s a losing proposition.
There is no winner declared yet because not enough people vote. If you don’t like the way things are going, get off your duff and vote for anyone EXCEPT a Democrat. This situation isn’t working for the upper class, they’re being forced to deplete their savings and become a member of the lower class. It’s not working for the lower class because the government is supporting illegals AND will not support the people they made poor. There are no winners. Make time to vote for a change in the next election.
Marie,
Good luck.
I voted with my feet over 20 years ago and left Taxistan.
My wife is an Illinois native and has no regrets about leaving.
The money I save in property taxes alone lets me pay CASH for a NEW car every 4 years.
Da Judge
Stop fighting the obvious Marie. It’s time to leave.
It’s to late for voting – Pritzker and the supermajority Democrats gerrymandered the whole state. The ‘fair maps’ promise of Pritzker was quickly trashed, and trashed in a very obscene way. Pritzker even gerrymandered the supreme court by very publicly buying two justices.
The state could help offset some of the local property tax burden by increasing the property tax credit on the state income tax return.
Why are you wasting your time depending on your monthly salary when you can work staying at home just with your PC and mobile phone you can earn up to 4000 dollars within 6 days.
I highly recommend everyone to apply… https://madeprofit22.blogspot.com/
Funny I just got my seemingly annual letter that my escrow will be short, time to add another $100 a month to the payment, $1200 a year. Yeah this is getting bad, we can afford it, but I see many who can’t afford their washing machine breaking down let alone the bottomless pit of property taxes. We vacationed in Utah recently and saw beautiful homes in beautiful settings with clean modern suburbs near everything you’d need near Antelope Island. A higher end home for 600K was paying 2 to 3K annual taxes average 200K to 300K homes paying proportionally less.
When DuPage goes, it will be to late.
I think DuPage is gone. All Ds in county government right now. US reps are D. Not sure breakdown of state reps, but my two are D.
Combo of no one will hire me due to age/race/sex and mom not willing to leave has me here for not sure how long
DuPage is long gone. Studies show that federal legislative districts with greater than 13% foreign born populations vote Democrat 90%+ of the time. Applying this concept to DuPage County, IIRC, Dupage is something like 15% or 16% foreign born. Heck, Naperville is 20% asian and probably 99% of them vote a straight D ticket every election. The middle aged or elderly Republican in DuPage county is a disappearing breed as they are replaced by foreign born who vote straight ticket democrat every elections, because of abortion and book bans. Imagine leaving your third world $hithole country to come to America… Read more »
I know quite a few Indian, Korean and Chinese people in DuPage who vote R quite a bit, maybe not straight ticket but definitely lean conservative. Most are professionals and small business owners. It’s probably more a socioeconomic split rather than ethnic.
This is only because you travel in circles with like minded people. It gives you a distorted view of DuPage County. Look closely at the map of Trump vs. Biden
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/upshot/2020-election-map.html
There were areas of Naperville that voted Biden +40. I live in a little pocket of Cook County that’s purple at Biden +5 or +10. Even Wheaton, Glen Ellyn and Downers Grove are Biden + 30.
Those areas of Naperville, Wheaton, etc. that voted +30 or +40 for Biden in 2020? That was back when the upper middle class residents of those communities could be easily convinced that Trump caused all the turmoil of the previous 4 years and that Biden couldn’t possibly be any worse. Well, now they know that Biden could be a whole LOT worse. Those numbers might be very different in 2024, Biden (or whoever replaces him) may still win but I would think not by nearly as much.
Why were the upper class communities of Naperville and Wheaton convinced Trump was the cause of the turmoil but Hinsdale, Oak Brook and Bloomingdale were not?
The answer is Demographic changes.
Debtsor doesn’t care about facts, Elaine. He spends all day upvoting himself and others that are in on the “move out” campaign. When you bring up a logical point, he’s usually the first to comment that your solution doesn’t have a chance. He’s a self-defeating activist! If you’re wondering how his logic is even possible, your on the right track. No sane person is going to waste their entire day telling people they’ll never win. Amazingly, we’ve got every self-defeating activist in the country participating here. What are the odds? Cui bono?
Dave Hardy – I agree facts do matter. My cracker box house I grew up in in a nice North Shore suburb would sell for 480,000 dollars. Taxes are 12,000 dollars per annum. My home in the suburbs of DC goes for 1.3M, is 2.5 times the size, with a much bigger forested lot. Schools in both places are excellent, with high schools averaging 26/27 on the ACT. The Blue Ridge where I live is 45 minutes away and the Atlantic Ocean is 3 hours away, although I am not a beach person. Taxes put a significant lien on a… Read more »
DuPage soccer moms have broke like 4-1 democrats while the men seem to remain republican. This is a national trend.
The men are cuckholded into voting Democrat too. Look at DuPage County, the soccer mom neighborhoods mostly voted Biden +30 or more. There are pockets of Republican strongholds in Hinsdale, Oak Brook and Burr Ridge & Bloomingdale, but the rest of the county is really blue. Biden won nearly 58% of the vote. I can’t speak for anyone else, but when I was dating many, many decades ago, I made sure I found myself a conservative wife. There were slim pickins’ in Chicago proper but we had a way of finding each other. And we did. I have conservative friends… Read more »
I’m working how DuPage isn’t at risk since in another story linked here today Naperville is in the top 20 for real estate taxes paid as a percentage of the median home value. The taxes in the collar counties aren’t going down anytime soon so DuPage residents are probably feeling the heat. They might have more cushion than the other counties, but that cushion is being eroded by inflation. As others have pointed out the demographics are changing. When I last returned to Illinois this spring and drove into DuPage, it was near election time. I noted a good 75%… Read more »
Naperville is over 20% asian. Times are changing.
Question? If you could change only one thing in Illinois to help your finances what would that be? For me it would be lowering property taxes to 1% of value. Colorado is .56%/AZ is approx .8% and values have skyrocketed there. Other than that crime is a large issue but that is nationwide not just Illinois. Moving is an option but when you look home values at my age I do not plan on getting a mortgage since the value of my home is a down payment for an empty lot in a decent area. Staying and fighting on my… Read more »
“Don’t forget that those in power now got there by a collective voice of hundreds of thousands voting for them and in exchange for their vote they expected something in return. Taxpayers have no such organization and are each on their own and should do the same.” Those people that were a collective voice for the current leadership are also taxpayers. They just decided to coalesce around the issues important to them. Those taxpayers want higher taxes and more services. Not all taxpayers vote for the lowest taxes. It doesn’t mean they are not represented. I agree with you that… Read more »
Here is some info on proposed property tax reforms in Indiana. I have heard nothing in Illinois on any property tax reforms. https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2023/02/10/house-committee-advances-indiana-property-tax-relief-bill-with-major-changes/ I think there should be at least a minimum tax levied on properties. In Rockford there are many homes that pay less then a thousand/yr some next to nothing because of value and deductions. There are solutions but no one wants to address them. Even if all properties drop to a thousand dollars each the taxing bodies still collect what was levied the year before thanks to PTELL. So the total taxes levied will never be less… Read more »
While I can’t speak for everyone, I can say that for my 2021 bill, I just calculated that 73.5% of my tax bill is: the elementary school district, the high school district, and the community college. My township and city is only 12.5%, with the county and misc taking up the rest. Even if we cut everything on my tax bill, other than schools, in half, that would still only reduce my real estate tax bill by 13.5%, which is in my case, very very roughly $100.00 a month, which is less than my water bill. The real meat on… Read more »
The Venice Illinois school district is in an urban area, serves 98 students is building a new school to the tune of 27 million of State funds.
Consolidation to the next door neighbor district would be a good place to start https://fox2now.com/news/you-paid-for-it/this-metro-east-school-district-serves-93-students-but-costs-3m-to-operate/
You just inadvertently made the case of why the teachers unions want the IKA killed – school choice of any sort ruins their con game.
I too am for cutting property taxes but the biggest reduction in taxes would have to come from cutting teachers and staff from the local schools. It seems to me there are just too many legacy costs baked into the cake. Consolidation might work for controlling administrative costs and maybe make maintenance staff and specialized teachers travel between schools in a district, but the savings wouldn’t be substantial enough. I want to see a $10,000 tax bill go to $4,500 like in other states but that’s a 50% reduction. LIke I said, they can cut teachers and staff but not… Read more »
I agree debtsor that the costs are baked into the local schools. If we look at cutting the number of employees that means class size would increase. Class sizes are part of many teacher collective bargaining agreements. There have been contracts in the past where teachers prioritized class size more than additional compensation so this isn’t something that they would give up without a big fight. Second, even if you were able to get the teachers to agree to classroom size increase, it would most likely be very small in terms of percentages. Going from a class size max of… Read more »
I would look into cutting administrative costs first be teachers. Most school districts are top heavy in administration. How many assistant supers do we need. Consolidating say purchasing dept would save some money. Why does every school district need the same dept that other schools have. I believe Winnebago county has 12 or so school districts buy many duplicative departments. Consolidate these into unit districts like Florida which has about 62 districts with 40K students each. Rockford just finished building replacing some older schools for a total of $279M. Yet reading/math scores are dismal at best. The budget get bigger… Read more »
You (and PPF) bring up good points about the real difficulties of the situation. So often, people believe that serious financial problems can be solved by focusing intently on things that do not have enough impact to really matter. “My company is losing money month after month; let’s pay close attention to how much we spend on paper clips!” and then pat themselves on the back over their attention to detail. (Have I mentioned that I am an accountant?) For some reason, I find myself thinking of the movie Major League. When the team is told the truth about their… Read more »
The premise of the movie was that the owner of the team (Cleveland Indians) wanted the team to lose so that attendance would tank and she would have an excuse to move them to Miami. I have to wonder who has an interest in driving Illinois into the ground and encouraging as many people as possible to move out? What happens if we finally decide it’s time to “win this (bleeping) thing?”
Tuition! If you ask any parent in most school districts how much is the per pupil expenditure they would not have a clue. They may have an idea about tuition in private local schools but say that is too expensive since they have to pay for it. But if you show them what private vs public costs at least they would be informed. In Rockford most private schools are $7-8K depending on grade vs over $17K for public. Charge tuition then they can apply for a rebate from the state for only the minimum per pupil expenditure by law which… Read more »
Sure, lay off some assistant supers or principals and cut some staff. That will save some money but I just looked at my district’s budget and the real $$$ is teacher salaries and benefits (with special ed taking a large chunk), then capital expenitures, and interest and maintenance. These costs are all baked in the cake. The teachers make too much, probably by 1/3rd frankly, and there’s no way to cut their salaries, you have to fire the younger junior teachers to get cost savings with then 30-40 kids per class. Get rid of music, PE, the school nurse, slash… Read more »
“(with special ed taking a large chunk)”
Therein lies another issue when people compare the costs of public school vs private. Private schools simply do not accept students that require so much assistance and ultimately money. Offering a low needs student a voucher to go to a private school doesn’t save the public school much money and not enough to cover the cost of the subsidy for the voucher.
The cost of the benefits for most everyone in schools is expensive. Paraprofessionals as do teachers get health insurance which the district (taxpayers) pay approx $21,000 in premiums. This is the Cadillac plan not the ACA one. Here’s some of the perks and look at the last one for housing. Of course all bargained for without public scrutiny. Charging tuition and let people know what it really costs would reign in the costs.
https://www.rps205.com/careers/benefits
Yes, we do need collective voices! Morale and cohesion are the first lines of defense against despotism.
“All taxes are commercial, they have to be. Or else you couldn’t have property ownership in the U.S. The legislature could just willy-nilly grant themselves a taxable interest in any property they want. And then they could move the rate or the tax around as much as they want. They could tax you out of your property. And that’s not how this country was set up to work. To believe that the system they are using is legitimate, here is what you would have to believe. The people that created this government, gave their public servants the power to kick… Read more »
I knew IL was a offical racket when the IL Supremes in striking down Rauners modest pension reforms said effectively the State has the authority to confiscate private property, so just keep raising taxes.
You “knew”? You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried. It’s amazing how many people spout non-sense like this and actually believe they are right. You can’t even get the basic details right yet you are so confident in your assessment. Typical of today’s politics. What reforms did Rauner implement? Perhaps you were thinking of the 2013 pension reforms that Democrats implemented and republicans didn’t support while under Governor Quinn. You know the one that diminished pension benefits of existing members even though the constitution forbids such diminishment. The IL Supreme Court voted 7-0 with 4 Democrats and 3 Republican… Read more »
We will have to wait until the Federal Courts Rule. Illinois judges get Illinois pensions, so they may be slanted in favor of Pensions.
The Federal courts will rule basic service are far more important than pensions. Illinois salaries are so high it will take almost all of the money.
States have vast powers to raise taxes. The choice will be higher taxes or less services. Plenty of taxes left to be raised.
Public Sector Union scammers wont get a cent when the RICO crimes are prosecuted. Enjoy the Gravy Train.
Bahahahaha!!!! Keep dreaming Tommy boy. Pensioners will continue to be paid regardless of your fantasy.
Some of you are really next level delusional. It’s quite funny. Keep up the great work and enjoy your tax bill in the meantime.
PPF – Plenty of taxes to be raised? The wrong statement. What matters are the taxes that are collected. You unlike many understand that increased taxes are not exogenous to economic productivity- and of course productive people are leaving. This having been said, pensions are sacrosanct in Illinois and will be paid. It is a matter of who wants to stick around and live in an economic variant of West Virginia (bleak). There is a guy on YouTube who does driving tours of mostly midwestern cities. I first viewed his piece on Peoria and it was depressing, especially to those… Read more »
What matters are the taxes that are collected Agreed. The state used to collect 40 billion per year just before the pandemic and now they are collecting over 50 billion. When the state raised income taxes to 5% they collected more revenue than the 3% rate. This visual is a reminder that Illinois simply can’t tax its way to prosperity Agreed. Running up this debt to pensions (or any other debt) creates a rough economic atmosphere for the state. As you’ve noted, they will be paid so unless we stop spending money elsewhere tax increases are our only choice. Pay… Read more »
See you later alligator. Not going to collect from me and hundreds of thousands of others. We are voting with are feet. The new poor immigrants will have to foot the bills. Best of luck with that program. PPF and Illinois can kiss my A$$ goodbye. Taking my taxes and my economic activity elsewhere.
For Chicago equity hustler progressive left, many of whom are public sector employees, peddling the reasons for their “racial community dis-investment” shtick could never ever possibly ever have anything to do with PRESENT reasons for Illinois being dead last in “home value appreciation since 2000″ as discussed in article–confiscatory prop taxation, 7,000 units of gov, etc largely to feed their guaranteed upper-income public sec lifestyles. But instead, for them, conveniently all racial community dis-investment is solely the result of PAST redlining laws from 50 years ago or some other supposed racist legacy real or exaggerated. And therefore, selling the public… Read more »
Fat Fredo and the rest of the Democrat crime family don’t care. At this point, Illinois is populated mostly by people who vote for a living instead of work for a living. Those voters keep voting Democrat because it doesn’t cost them anything. Democrat voters just go out and steal whatever they need, so why work.
The state is doomed.
So many of us are imprisoned here. I just had a market evaluation done on my home of 30+years. The county assessed at 100k OVER the paltry sum I would get if I sold. In effect, I would not even recoup the purchase price. This is not only EXTORTION, IT IS is confiscatory theft. We know it. Pritzker knows it too, It can only be intentional.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN ONCE THEY HAVE STOLEN ALL OUR RETIREMENT FUNDS
THAT IS THE SAME WAY THEY STAY IN POWER!! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD VOTE FOR THIS KIND OF LEADERSHIP………..TWICE!!
That comes next after the fed can’t keep up with the interest payments which seems to be happening just about now
Face it Illinoisans, if you own a house in Taxistan you are essentially a tax mule for the corrupt Dems and their masters da public sector unions!!
Vote with your feet and leave as soon as you can.
I voted with my feet over 20 years ago and my bank account is $200K fatter because of my smart financial decision.
Da Judge
Couldn’t have said it better. Leaving Illinois was the smartest financial decision I ever made.
All the Down Thumbs know that leaving Taxistan is the only way to begin to put an end to their golden pensions and OPEB.
Guess they could try to build a wall to stop you from voting with your feet but then somebody has to pay for da wall.
Da Judge
The huge number of down votes in this discussion leads me to believe that someone is gaming the system with phony names so they can vote multiple times.
Kinda reminds you of the Chicago motto; “vote early and vote often,”
I’ve been reading this site for a while. I downvoted you. Moving out is not realistic for the majority of people. Why not propose and debate the merits of some simple goals?
Simple goals are rather elusive here. I’ve never seen anyone try to pull resources together and set up a meet and greet. Mark Glennon posted the link to some wine bar event months ago. 1st Ward Alderman Daniel La Spata hosted a town hall “honest conversation” about the Wicker Park area’s violent crime problem a few days ago. I’d love to see more content like this or an event calendar instead of mud wrestling to untangle multivariate problems.
Your ancestors got on a boat, traveled across the ocean, and started a new life thousands of miles away on the other side of the globe in a place where they didn’t speak the language.
You can’t get in your U-Haul and drive 150 miles in any direction across the IL border? Being in IL you’re never more than 150 or so miles away from another state in any direction.
Pub,
I don’t know how you defeat da Black Hole in Illinois!!
Consider da Dems pols in Illinois and Sheeetcago and their masters da public sector unions like a Black Hole.
How do you stop da Black Hole from sucking in more and more of your wealth via higher and higher taxes.
Get as far away as you can from it.
Illinoisans, vote with your feet and flee da Illinois Black Hole!!
Da Judge
Pritzker’s Promises Are Worth Nothing — A Total Toxic Narcissist ShitBag Who Measures Everything By What’s In In For Him.
YOU WOULD THINK HE HAS ENOUGH WITH HIS FAMILY MONEY!! BILLIONAIRE????????????
Poor Guv Pigchop had to pay to have da toliets installed again in his new million dollar mansion in Sheeetcago!!
JUST HOW MUCH CAN YOU EAT?????????/
Pritzker and Democrats just do not care. In IL they no longer are compelled to work for your vote. You are just a ‘mark’, a ‘sap’, a ‘mouth breather’, a ‘deplorable’, a ’empty vessel’ to be hustled and taken advantage of. If you are not part of a public employee union in IL, it just sucks to be you.
The double digit percentage of mortgages underwater in counties is economic depression.
Homes and properties are just ATM machines for all the local taxing bodies. The value of the home determines how much you pay but the ability to pay is never considered. Maybe a local county income tax in exchange NOT in addition to lower property taxes. County income taxes should be limited to 1-1.5% with a hard cap only to be adjusted by referendum. The amount collected from the income tax goes to reducing property taxes only. What will happen is property values should go up over a few years. Indiana has done this and property taxes for residential are… Read more »
The question shouldn’t be “How much income tax?” it should be “Why is an income tax needed when some states don’t have any?”
The Dems have a super majority in the House, the Senate, the IL Supreme Court, hold every state office, basically control all levels of government in IL. Where can the fight begin when the numbers are overwhelmingly against you? And those who could have fought have already left? Throwing out Madigan and all those other recently convicted pols hasn’t made a bit of difference, just a new crop like Kwame and the House and Senate leaders.
There are millions of people against them. Despotism is very fragile. All it takes is one mistake and the whole house of cards comes crumbling down.
IL state government isn’t despotism. It’s 2,700,000 million people voting straight ticket Democrat ballots every gubernatorial election. This is the exact opposite of despotism.
IL’s problem, as I always say, are the people that live here. Between the AWFL’s spreading like a cancer outward into the collar counties and the uneducated CPS grads running the city, we put the stupidest people in charge, who make the dumbest decisions, and then scream “but the other side will take away your abortions!”
Pritzker all but says, in many of his public utterances, that conservatives, particularly MAGA conservatives, don’t belong in Illinois. If he had the ability to just order all of us to move out tomorrow, I’m sure he would. I suspect that many of his policies are designed to drive conservatives out of the state in disgust, and I can totally understand why they would want to leave — but in doing so, aren’t we giving the leftists EXACTLY what they want?
Yes, you are correct, JB and democrats want conservative out of the state. They hate us, they call us deplorables, we are the scum of the earth to them. There is no doubt they would hurt us and round us up if they could. The amount of hatred and vitriolic rhetoric coming from that side of the aisle is dangerous. But yes, leaving the state would give them exactly what they want. It’s called strategic retreat. There’s nothing with that. Keep in mind there is an important flipside to leaving the state: by leaving a blue state and moving to… Read more »
Nice try Judas. Do you really think anyone here takes you seriously? You’re telling me that your full time effort of scaring people with inflated claims and relentless projections of despair has crystallized into a grand strategy to flip NW Indiana with Illinois expats by scaring them out of the state? LOLOL Thanks for the laugh!!! Hahhaha
Dave,
How did traditionally Democrat NW Indiana become transformed into a D+2 district? A little bit of gerrymandering, and a lot of Illinois refugees! Kass himself moved into this district.
You’re so behind the times it’s hilarious
The real kicker is that you still live in Illinois.
Throwing out Madigan has arguably made things much worse. The progressives are in full control now. And when this crop of politicians are run out of office again, for being insufficiently progressive, things will only get worse. We’ve seen this all before, where the children of the revolution consume their own.
All those years… thinking things would be better without Madigan. I very much agree with you.
Dave Hardy keeps harping on us to stay and fight the good fight. But when our wallets are being drained like this and there is NO remorse by anybody at any level of government and there is no relief in sight, there’s only one thing left to do – LEAVE. Avoid the decline in value of your largest asset, avoid your childrens’ certain failure in the worst education system, and avoid personal harm from uncontrollable levels of crime. Convince us otherwise, Dave.
That’s a ridiculous distortion of my statements. The majority of Illinois folks do very well, myself included. THAT’S WHY WE ARE HERE AND FIGHTING! The fact that you bought a house that lost money or can’t navigate adversity is your problem, not a political issue – and moving isn’t going to fix it! Moving out is an individual decision and your directive fails when you start marketing it as some sort of collective movement. Even funnier, some of you waste your whole day here pushing “move out” comments after you’ve already moved out! You’d all make more $$ and do… Read more »
The only part of my comment to which you deserve credit is ” . . . stay and fight the good fight.” How is that a distortion? In your response, you repeat it! Good for you, Dave! I admire your willingness to stay and fight. Some of us don’t think it’s a winnable strategy, thus we voice our opinions in opposition. Doesn’t mean we’re right and you’re wrong or vice versa. It simply means our views differ. Wirepoints gives us the platform to opine and I’m thankful for that. Lastly, since when did the adversities I highlighted no longer become… Read more »
Jajujon, I’m honored that you consider me public enemy #1 for pointing out numerous logical fallacies lurking in the comment section here. The fact that you got up at 5am (this is assuming you live in Illinois LOL) to post an opening salvo of collective despair really inspires me to keep going and call out all of the BS here. “But when our wallets are being drained like this and there is NO remorse by anybody at any level of government and there is no relief in sight, there’s only one thing left to do – LEAVE.” How about you… Read more »
Charge ahead, my man, charge ahead. Waiting patiently to see the fruits of your marketing and political strategies to save the Land of Lincoln . . .
It’s not me, it’s us! We all need to charge ahead. Scoring a goal is a team effort and I can’t do it by myself.
Your efforts would be better spent flipping IN-1 Congressional District from D+3 to R+2. We only need several thousand IL residents to cross the border and vote Republican. IL loses absolutely nothing because their conservative votes are wasted in IL; but IN and congress gains another Republican congressional seat in the house. IL is a lost cause. The point is to stay here and squeeze all the juice you can from this orange, doing whatever we can to get ours, and then leave after there’s just no squeeze left. Then I’ll take my gains about an hour north and fortify… Read more »
Forfeit an entire state to maybe win a few temporary congressional seats! GENIUS!!! This is your best work.
The state is already gone to Democrats. The national Republican Party gave up in 2004 when they refused to give any money or support Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in his reelection campaign.
It’s not me who is behind the times, its you.
If you don’t even have your own party supporting your efforts, you don’t have a party in your state.
Dave is chasing a windmill. Illinois is not salvageable politically, at least not anytime soon. I like your cross border idea, but is it a strategy or simply coincidental that enough Illinoisans are making the move? I haven’t researched how/if the local Indiana Republican Party has been making a concerted effort to grow the base by encouraging cross border moves. Kudos to them if they are.
The cross border idea isn’t my own, it’s been naturally happening for years now. It’s both coincidental and it’s a strategy that pundits from Jesse Kelly to Dan Bongino say “move to a red area and make it redder”. Jack Poso IIRC posted some thread a few months back on X saying that it would only take several hundred thousand conservatives leaving blue states like IL, NY, CA, to move into purple states like WI, PA, GA, AZ, NV to make them red forever, all at the expense of blue states. If look at the voting numbers it’s really only… Read more »
For real, the national party gave up on Fitzgerald in 2004 after the state went for Gore 54.60% to 42.58% in 2000 (Fitzgerald elected in 1998, defeating Carol Mosley Braun). The RNC said they wouldn’t be giving any financial assistance or help to Fitzgerald because IL was a lost cause having lost the R party by 12 points in the presidetial electoin. Fitzgerald, reading the writing on the wall, declined to run for reelection. The fiasco that followed in involved Jack Ryan, Jeri Ryan, and Barack Obama being elected as senator in 2004. IL has not been in play for… Read more »
Sounds good about moving north but check out the prices of homes just north and west of Milwaukee. In Mequon-Brown Deer-Jackson-Cedarburg/Grafton area/etc a new 2,000 sq.ft home is approx $625-$699K/existing homes $450-$525+K. Check Zillow. Taxes are lower but maybe Janesville or Beloit would be a better option.
Yeah, $600k is a bit more than I want to spend but everywhere is pricey now(except here!). Need to wait for the next real estate crash. These real estate boom and bust cycles are really annoying especially when they don’t match your life stages. Feel bad for the young family paying $600k for 2,000 sq feet in the suburbs of Milwaukee.
jajujon–your comments certainly ring true in my situation. As I’ve stated before elsewhere on wirepoints, leaving was the most empowering thing I ever did.
Crime seems to be in most places now but I still feel I bought myself some time by getting out of Chicago. Never go back even to visit. Lawlessness is celebrated in this #1 corrupt, gang-infested city.
Also, I don’t want to be a tax mule for corrupt Dems.
And I navigated adversity successfully by getting out of Chicago and then out of Illinois as quickly as I could.
“Never go back even to visit” “…. out of Illinois as quickly as I could.”
The last place I’d expect to find someone that made those comments is in an Illinois real estate article comment section. Something doesn’t make sense.
Gosh, Dave, ease up. She’s just offering her opinion. And why is it so nonsensical to comment like she did in a real estate article? Maybe because the largest and only real estate asset many people will ever own is their home? Or maybe it’s the article’s title: “Pritzker’s Illinois: Nation’s Worst State to Own a Home.”
I was a crime victim in Chicago. We all deal with trauma in our own way. I sold my house as quickly as I could and moved out of Chicago. Could not deal with the painful memories and wanted a better life.
Up until today I always felt comfortable commenting on wirepoints. Now I no longer do.
I will no longer post on wirepoints. Score a victory for David Hardy.
Penny, please don’t let a naive, disrespectful guy like Dave influence your decision to contribute. Ignore him. I hope you change your mind.
penny-Hang in there. Many here on this site have their own viewpoint and comment on how they feel. Not many websites available to post our opinions and ideas without being censored. As far as down votes which looks like a thumb down it can also mean disagree in whole or part of the comment. Take care and hope to hear more of your comments and opinions.
Penny,
Here are some of the reasons I left Taxistan;