-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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When will the property tax task force do something? Anything! We need to get away from the value of a property as a primary source of funding for taxing bodies. Something needs to be done and soon. Maybe we need another task force to investigate all the other task forces which did nothing at all.
The ability to pay is never considered. Now someone had the gall and said to take out a loan to pay for property taxes.
Most of your property taxes go to your local schools – elementary, high school and community college. The rest goes to various water, sewer, your township, etc. In other states, that money goes to the state capital for redistribution. I’ll be honest, I don’t trust Springfield to take that money and redistribute it around. If you think taxes now are high, wait until our state discovers that it can tax your home every year. Right now they can’t tax your home every year, so they nickel and dime us on everything else. But when my $9k tax bill goes to… Read more »
“They own the equity too. This is what you insure when you buy homeowners’ insurance, right? No, wrong answer, that’s not what you’re insuring. You’re insured for the replacement value of the home. If the home burns down, the insurance company pays to rebuild it. The equity which is the different between the market value and any liens on the property (mortgages, taxes). Equity has nothing to do with it. The fact that more black and brown people refuse to pay their taxes is completely irrelevant. I agree the system is punitive and terrible, and no one should lose their… Read more »
Equity = Assets (market value) minus Liabilities (liens on the property like mortgages, taxes)
Cook County is left leaning as almost any jurisdiction in the country, and it has support from the state government. Query why legislation has not been passed permitting debtors to retain the value of any equity remaining after liens and fees have been satisfied? And what is the reality on the ground? Doesn’t Cook County have enough abandoned tax sale property that it cannot sell at even bargain basement prices? I don’t doubt the problems that have befallen the two plaintiffs – no cheer in their misery – but query what this litigation – even if successful – would do… Read more »
I didn’t read the lawsuit but my guess is that the Plaintiff suggests that homes be auctioned off to the highest bidder – like in a foreclosure – and returning the excess funds to the homeowner. The tax deed system now transfers the entire home to the tax buyer. There’s no racial component to it other than, apparently according to plaintiff, black and brown people are less likely to pay their real estate taxes on time. I didn’t suggest that, the lawsuit says that. But believe me, if I didn’t pay my taxes on my house in Crystal Lake, they’d… Read more »
Spot on. That’s also called equal justice under law.