Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Illinois Budget’s New Taxes Face Serious Constitutional Challenges
June 12, 2026
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Audio and summary linked here.
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A mess of uncertainty and litigation is sure to follow.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
There seems to be a strong argument that pension rules, often deemed untouchable, need to be rewritten. A plurality of municipalities claiming bankruptcy, in part because of the suffocating pension burden, might just do the trick.
PPF says that pensions always have to be funded even at the expense of other services. His answer is, raise taxes. But what happens when residents of some of these south suburban towns can’t afford the
enormous property taxes necessary to fund pensions? What happens when their homes are foreclosed on or they declare bankruptcy? And then the burden falls on the state which has its own funding deficits? Any wonder residents move before the ax falls?
As much as we hate on our dear Mr./Mrs./Ms. State Retiree for the pension reality checks, they are correct. Public pensions cannot be infringed in any way, according to the Illinois Constitution.
However, when the money’s gone, it’s gone, as Harvey is finding out.
Pritzker consolidated municipal public pensions a few years ago, so: when a train a comin’ taxpayers a runnin’
What’s really curious is that, despite the dismal situation regarding taxes and government finance, Chicago-area home prices continue to rise, unlike most other cities. Who is buying at these prices? Could they all be wealthy gov’t employees?
No salable inventory.
Prices can rise, but sellers will have to hope buyers:
According to the Cook County Clerk, total equalized assessed valuation for City of Harvey is $263,756,157. This is for 2023, latest year available. EAV is supposed to be 1/3 of market value, so the total value of all privately-owned real estate in Harvey would be $791 million. Of course there are exemptions and errors, so assume one billion dollars. A multi-billionaire, whether Governor or not, could buy the place (not the City, but all the privately-owned real estate) and profitably redevelop it.
If properties in Harvey were desirable, tax buyers would be snapping up tax delinquent parcels at the annual tax sales and returning those parcels to good standing on the tax roll. Instead, year in and year out, Harvey has the highest number of tax delinquent properties in the county. Putting aside for a moment the town’s crushing debt, it is surrounded by the municipalities of Dixmoor and Riverdale to the north; Dolton, Phoenix, and South Holland to the east; East Hazel Crest to the south; and Hazel Crest, Markham and Posen to the west. All of them are themselves financial zombies and crime ridden sh_tholes. Nobody with a billion dollars to invest is looking… Read more »
And the big question is what do they all have in common
Every one of them have a majority minority population. With the exception of Posen, which is majority latino, all the others are majority black.
They are also Democrat strongholds, which should come as no surprise as Democrat politics = identity politics. Racial and ethnic minorities are favored under that political model.
Identity politics will thus factor into the “resolution” of the problems facing Harvey.
Simply put, Democrat political leadership will ensure that there is no harsh financial reset for Harvey.
Perhaps our hypothetical multi-billionaire would also want to buy out those neighboring communities. S/he would maybe first want to get her/his legislature to pass some laws facilitating the operation. Billionaires can do amazing things!
I am sure all the good liberals will be happy to pony up as reparations for everything that Harvey has endured. Get in line lemmings.
Run for your economic life.
Harvey is saddled with public pension funds that are desperately underfunded. So is all of Illinois, pensions costs are destroying the cities and the state.