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"I've made no changes in my place. And yet, I'm caught with a 400 percent increase," said West Garfield Park resident Michael Strode.
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Audio and summary Why the Holdup Using Artificial Intelligence to Cut Illinois Government Costs? – Wirepoints
May 19, 2026
8 Comments
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.
Note to readers from Mark Glennon re: Ukraine
May 6, 2026
4 Comments
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Wirepoints’ Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer – Chicago’s struggling commercial real estate and more
April 22, 2026
5 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Audio and summary
Instead of getting a new big hat for the holiday, gonna have to give that money to the county to help pay for the big government you like to preach about. Love it when Democrats get hit with their own reality.
Time to call the law office of Edward Burke and his cronies for a real estate tax appeal!
These folks never realized how valuable their properties were, and that in reality they were getting huge property tax breaks all along. So they should be throwing parties instead of complaining that they now have to pay “their fair share”. They are “movin’ on up” without needing to move!
Agree. These people have been getting a deal all this time and now they need to pay like everyone else. I wonder how many are looking in their mirror and thinking about their voting history as the problem. lol. Probably like others here that just think it’s mean old politicians instead of accepting this is the result of their own decisions.
Expecting an Illinois voter to accept the blame for the way things are? That’s a good one!
The main reason residential property taxes have gone up is due to the fall in value of commercial properties, especially downtown. So the question is why have commercial properties declined? Covid lockdowns, resulting in working from home, less traffic in Loop, online shopping vs. in store, crime even on Magnificent Mile, crime on CTA, releasing repeat offenders, city hostility toward landlords and businesses, and regulations. Even longtime downtown visitors and workers don’t want to go there. And what caused these negatives? Politicians more interested in social justice, protecting unions, and raising taxes rather than cutting budgets. That’s what you all… Read more »
Not so, the main reason for taxes going higher is the Pension time bomb explosion going off and still exploding. The majority of the higher taxes are going to fund pensions. PPF says they must be paid and taxpayers voted for this. Either pay or sell and move, it is the only choice you have now.
Homewood considers 2025 tax levy options among rising pension costs – Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle | Wirepoints
While pensions are definitely a part of the problem,Wally is right as well. The reasons are not mutually exclusive. Taxing bodies can increase their levies from the previous year by the lesser of CPI or 5%. If the previous year levy was $1,000,000.00 and CPI was 6.0% then the most the taxing body could increase the levy is 5%. That means the new levy is $1,050,000.00. If everything else stayed the same, no appeals, everyone’s property values (residential and commercial) stayed the same then everyone’s tax bill would go up 5%. The taxing body gets that $1,050,000,00 regardless of the… Read more »
Yes, taxes rise for a variety of reasons, especially pensions. But the burden of paying those taxes has shifted from commercial to residential. Sure, Homewood may consider raising the levy, but the question is who’s going to pay, commercial or residential? How are commercial properties, like malls, strip malls, small businesses doing in Homewood? Do they have vacant big box stores and office buildings? If it does, their assessed value goes down and residential property makes up for the loss. It’s not the size of the taxes but who’s going to pay them.
Change it? Hell, Mayor Raggedy is doubling down on his own stupidity and throwing gasoline on the fire while he blames racism for the problem that his party started.
You forgot Nazism!
Falling downtown office building values combined with significantly increased spending. Yet, lost in this discussion, no one is discussing the exponential increase in retail/commercial property taxes all throughout Chicagoland. It’s not uncommon for a free standing gyro restaurant to have a $20,000 or $30,000 tax bill. Some of my customers have tax bills upwards of $50,000 a year in Cook County real estates taxes. That’s a lot of gyros to sell every month! This contributes significantly to the cost of going out to eat in Cook County. And when it becomes too expensive to eat out, people stop eating out,… Read more »