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The statewide Realtors group plans to spend about half a million dollars warning suburban residents that Springfield might increase real estate transfer taxes statewide as a source of funding for the Chicago Transit Authority.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Summary and audio linked here.
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Audio and summary
Received mailer today in mail, get on board folks and voice your disapproval of this. Remember hypothetically if you sell your home in one of the collar counties for say $400,000 at a taxable rate of 3% that’s costing $12,000 to support god knows what to Chicago, oh that’s right Pensions. Don’t put it past these evil politicians to keep raising the taxable rate whenever they want to, or start implementing other taxes on the collar counties to bailout Chicago (Cook County), again voice your opinion be heard loud and clear.
In Illinois it’s never a question of ‘if’ or ‘where’ reduction in tax spending is feasible…
It’s ALWAYS create new taxes, or raise the existing ones…
That’s the way the voters of Illinois like it Joey. If they didn’t it would change.
The voters. The omni-cause of every problem. No wonder public employees can never figure out how to fix anything.
Public employees are just that…employees. It’s not their job to “figure out how to fix” things. That’s for policy makers to decide. If the policy makers aren’t doing their job to your liking, then you need to choose different policy makers. Blaming the employees because they join a union to get paid fair wages and benefits is beyond ridiculous. Elected leaders should do their job. If not, voters should do theirs and vote accordingly. You get to hire public employees to help carry out policy decisions but it’s not up to them to fix stupid voting patterns. That’s up to… Read more »
It’s not their job to fix anything. I forgot, their job is to show up, then collect a paycheck.
And yet somehow teacher unions think they can fix climate change, the Palestinian situation, and prevent FASCISM! They can fix past racial sins, and bring a utopia to America. Because who is better qualified to run everything?
The poor public employees who can’t be expected to do anything because “voters” is wearing thin.
Their job is to show up and perform the services that they agreed to in their contract. Nothing more.
Sorry you don’t like the truth PP. It’s not their job but yours. Time to put on those big girl pants PP and stop blaming others.
“Just following orders”
Heard that one before, Mr./Mrs./Ms. State Retiree. Still not an excuse.
Oh yes. A teacher following the curriculum that is required by their employer and state is similar to Nazi’s. Man you’re pathetic.
Gosh, how could I have been so stupid as to think a teacher’s job is to teach?
Now I know that they don’t have to do that if their contract doesn’t say so. They just have to show up to get paid.
Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Teachers are hired to teach. They have done that per their contract. They were paid their agreed upon wage and earned their service credit for their agreed upon pension. When the administration at CPS evaluates their teaching performance, 97% achieved a meets or exceeds rating. They are performing their job as they were hired to do. They are not responsible for students not showing up to class. They are not responsible for parents missing conference meetings. They are not responsible for students not trying to learn. They are not responsible for a third of their student body not speaking English.… Read more »
Wait, I thought it was the voters? And now you’ve found lots of others to blame? I see you didn’t forget to accuse me of jealousy either, showing your prowess at analyzing people you don’t even know. A virtuoso performance.
And all I did was parrot what you wrote.
Just being purposely dumb again. That is your specialty. All those other issues are controlled by the schools and the administration. If you are unhappy with the results you will need to implement different rules in schools and possibly different administrators to carry out those order. That is decided by the school board. YOU decide the school board. The school board reports to the voters. I’ve explained this many times yet you refuse to learn. Just want to blame teachers.
Well, PPF, we don’t all like it. Many of us here proactively vote for change. Overcoming the huge public employee voting machine, the large population of public aid and services voters as well as the laws and rules manipulated by the elected officials to stack the deck against the average tax payer…makes it damn near impossible to win for change. But you knew that already.
I understand that not everyone likes it. The minority in each state could all say the same thing. It’s also not impossible to change the minds of voters. It just requires that the ILGOP start to align their policies closer to the majority of the voting public. Look no further than the last GOP Governor candidate. Perhaps start with candidates that don’t take an abortion position that doesn’t allow for any exceptions for rape or incest. Perhaps don’t choose candidates in the primary that have no chance in the general election. When we vote we are choosing people that will… Read more »
I understand your concern and agree with you however in my local downstate liberal utopia last school board election had something like a 14% voter turnout. That means 86% of the people cared less about what happened one way or another. I have my issues with the politicians but the real issue is with that 86% and until things like that change life will go on as always.
It’s amazing Riverbender. Our country was founded and our forefathers fought for our great constitution and our independence only to have it squandered by lazy voters who have voluntarily relinquished the power to political activists. These voters are so lazy and lack any accountability that they would rather wallow in their own pity party than actually vote for better government. Truly sad.
Not to mention when you point out this problem, their apologists and enablers try to tell you not to blame the voters. Just like toddlers, they too would rather whine and cry and play the victim.
Do you think it’s OK for politicians and/or school boards to do what they have been doing, since not enough people are trying to stop them?
Or are they responsible for what they do?
If the voters aren’t unhappy with what they are doing then they must be doing exactly what the voters want. It’s not only OK it’s encouraged in our voting process.
Yes, you have already made clear your opinion that the majority is always right. Unless, of course, the majority should decide they no longer want to pay you. Then they are wrong and you will brandish your sacred contract. Heads I win, tails you lose.
Yep, I get your point. Voting and elections are the way the process was intended to steer government agency behavior and policy, etc. It seems though, that many of those who end up in office are not doing what is right for the state, or the county or city or tax payer. It seems that the majority of those in office are making policy decisions and laws that ultimately penalize the tax payer for their own benefit. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the design of the process. I believe there was a needed element of character, honesty and common sense… Read more »
Once again, the “transportation funding cliff” is a con. All the state transit agencies got $100s of millions in ARPA-COVID funds that they inappropriately spent on PERMANENT new hires, bonces and pay raises. I believe, per IPI, CTA has hired 1,200 new employees with ARPA-COVID funds most of whom are performing “administrative duties”… ditto for RTA, METRA, PACE, etc….ditto for CPS, and all the school districts, etc….all dopey taxpayers are being con into is making the ARPA-COVID funding levels permanent not to be paid with fed funds but with your hardscrabble equity.
The only thing that can ‘rescue’ the CTA is the CTA itself. The transit agency’s operating budget needs to reflect its reduced ridership. CTA ridership peaked in 2012 at 545.6 million riders. That number as of 2024 was 309.2 million.
Are the taxpayers to pay more for less? Ok. Stop laughing.
Its pathetic that the elected officials in the Illinois government some how figures they need a cut of every single transaction that its residents make, even when it has nothing to do with any state agency or service. There is no value the state brings to the transaction. There is protection or service provided by the state in this transaction. There is no involvement in this transaction…except collecting their “protection money”. Illinois Government has become organized crime…except they decide what’s a crime and what isn’t. The only thing missing here are the two thugs (Rocko and Bruiser) who come for… Read more »
Put your property into a LLC or INC before selling to the new owner. No ‘transfer’, no tax.
Real estate transfer taxes make perfect sense for Illinois. Although they should offer a tax incentive if you are turning around and using that money to buy another house within the state. Let’s say an 8% real estate transfer tax that is paid by the seller. That tax would be cancelled if they bought another Illinois home of equal or greater value. If they sell their home and leave the state, it would be a great way to prevent the homeowner from “dining and dashing” out on the debt that Illinois holds. Sure they will be upset but they are… Read more »
The desperation is palpable to prop up the public union fraud as the well of other peoples money begins to run dry. What happens when a Blackrock (a Democrat favorite) decides to sell it’s soon to be deadbeat property in the Loop?
Of course as an alternative they could cut spending on new things but we know…that will never happen
That’s not an alternative. The current public workers and NGOs will never allow money to be diverted away from their own pockets.
I beg to differ. There are plenty of voters in Illinois that could outvote those special interests that you mentioned. However every election amounts to low voter participation as most voters, I assume, don’t give a _____ about what happens in this State. I can only surmise they want higher taxes or they would get off their dead ____ and go out and vote against them.
Vote for whom? What alternatives are offered?
It’s the fault of those who failed to stop the problem, not those who caused the problem. Apparently that’s a popular perspective in some circles.
Any election with less than 50% turnout should be voided, as it is not democratic
Rigged elections in IL via obscene gerrymandering has a LOT to do with low voter turnout – people know their vote against a Leftist Democrat will not matter.
Agree 100 percent RB. I would much prefer spending to be cut but my fellow voters in the state don’t seem to like that idea. More spending full speed ahead.
How about we do that same thing for public pensions in Illinois? You leave the state and you get taxed 5% as a clawback. No more dining and dashing to Florida without paying for the mess you created in Illinois.
Not gonna happen, Billy Bob! Any taxation directed solely to IL public employee retirees will be taken legally as a not-all-that-clever diminishment of that person’s public pension. It’s back to the drawing board for some IL politician to try another ploy.
James – your rationale is not correct. Illinois if it so desired could tax all pension income. If it did so it must treat all pensioners equally without regard to their status as a former public employee. If Illinois taxed all pensioners, which it is capable of doing, public employees under your theory of taxation would find their benefits diminished. It isn’t correct.
I believe he said the same thing as you when he wrote “directed solely to IL public employee retirees”.
Also, once those retirees leave the state, you can’t tax their pension. That would violate federal law.
The Pension Source Act of 1995 tells you to go pound sand. Real estate transfer taxes hits both pensioners leaving the state as well as those that worked in private employment. All Illinois taxpayers will be paying for this debt.
They need to stop raising taxes. They need to clean house at CTA administration and stop spending money they don’t have. Fire political hires and DEI staff that are not competent. Trim the extra administrative staff. Until CTA becomes more efficient and fiscally responsible, they shouldn’t get another dime from taxpayers. And quit targeting sunburn taxpayers. Let Chicago foot the bill.
Unfortunately, we live in a state that wants to tax farts, sunshine and greeting someone you pass on the sidewalk. There are many, presumably with a state pension, that seem to have no problem with everyone else paying more in taxes rather than reducing and closing underused/ unused buildings, unnecessary jobs and social programs. They have no problem with giving you a swift kick in the keister one last time when you get fed up and finally leave IL. Pension Pigs First.
Competent people working at the CTA? That are not politically connected? Surely you jest!
Illinois elected officials don’t have the courage for financial reform and can’t say NO to more taxes, even when they will be directly funneled to Johnson and his ineptness. They leave it up to third parties to do their dirty work again. Thank you to the realtors for making this more public – but shame on you Springfield.