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Ted was on the The Shaun Thompson Show to discuss the corrupt nature of commercial property assessments in Chicago, why Illinois home values have barely grown over the past 20 years, Gov. Pritzker’s failure to keep his promise to lower property taxes, how Illinois’ 7,000 units of government overwhelm residents’ ability to hold them accountable and more.
Read more from Wirepoints:
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.
Summary and audio linked here.
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
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Corruption is not new in Illinois but lack of observation and enforcement of laws has made it worse as time’s gone by. Institutions such as unions and legislators and judges must be part of the multitudes who turn their eyes away from blatant corruption that most of us perceive as a growing problem. When I was a young lawyer, c. 1970, a client based in another state (where I was licensed) was planning on opening a new plant in Illinois. I thought I could handle a Chicago property tax matter by myself. However, I was warned by my my older… Read more »
As long as the democrats have a stranglehold on Illinois because of Cook/County/Chicago politicians running the state nothing will change. Chicago/Cook County politicians have honed the art of corruption like no other entity. There is nothing in common with about 90% of Illinois of the views that Chicago and Cook County have. Rubes, hayseed, useless is what their thinking is. Unfortunately most of the state does not have unrelenting violent crime that is condoned in Chicago but that’s another story. Our way or the highway is the attitude.
Specific math is not emotional or subjective. Data presented here (Illinois home values’ appreciation lowest in nation) is numbers-based and should be impervious to political ad hominem diversions. Illinois home values are inversely correlated to property tax rates. Here is how math could be put to use via unambiguous legislation: There are 2 mathematical inflection points indicating pivitol catalysts for economic death spiral of communities. Public spending which pushes a tax district beyond these thresholds could require referendum. Inflection points: 1. Percentage of household income necessary to pay property taxes exceedingly higher than BLS published national average. 2. Median income… Read more »
Corruption is the grease that keeps the IL Democrat machine working