Click the Pic Thank you, JoeProBono
Follow the Exciting Adventures of Gary the Snail!
Abolish FReepathons
Go Monthly
Planning to donate at least $10? You can sponsor
one or more New Monthly Donors for no additional cost
FReepmail TheOldLady
Posted on 10/09/2011 11:37:54 AM PDT by Borges
Property taxes are unfair. Taxpayers don’t understand their bills. And that’s not likely to change.
It is amazing to me, in this era of Tea Party rebellions, that no organized campaign has been launched to abolish property taxes in Illinois. The idea would certainly be popular with voters. Last week, thousands could be found standing in lines at the assessor’s offices in Cook County as second installment tax bills arrived in the mail. Most were seniors wondering how they had lost their senior citizen exemption, a property tax break that can be worth hundreds of dollars.
Others just couldn’t understand how their property taxes could have increased when their property values had gone down.
There have been many newspaper stories, editorials and columns written about the complicated calculations that produce property tax bills, but people never seem to comprehend it all.
I don’t blame them. The system isn’t designed to be understood.
Here, for example, is a statement from the Illinois Department of Revenue about the equalization factor the state applies to Cook County property tax bills.
“If the median level of assessment for all property in the county varies from the 33.3 percent level required by law, an equalization factor is assigned to bring assessments to the legally mandated level.”
According to the Department of Revenue the three-year average level of assessments for Cook County property was 10.10 percent, not 33.3 percent.
“The department calculated the multiplier to bring the average level of assessments to the required 33.3 percent level by dividing Cook County’s three year average of 10.10 into 33.33.”
In other words, the state determined that the county’s assessments were undervalued by a factor of three. But the “equalization factor does not cause individual tax bills to go up,” the Department of Revenue statement continued. “Local taxing bodies determine tax bills when the request dollars needed to provide services to citizens. The assessment process simply determines how the bill will be divided among taxpayers.”
Got that?
Unlike income taxes or sales taxes, property taxes are not based on the ability of people to pay, or willingness to spend.
The average homeowner can only access his property wealth by selling his home. Even in the best of times, that is not something most people are willing to do. In this economy, even people who want to sell their homes can’t do it.
And then there’s the fact that anyone who sells his home would have to find another place to live, meaning most, if not all, of the money from a home sale is used to purchase another house.
You won’t get much of an argument from politicians if you tell them property taxes are unfair. And few would even debate the point that the calculations for property taxes in Cook County are baffling to taxpayers.
The problem in Cook County was complicated further this year when the state Legislature required people to refile for the senior citizens exemption.
Some folks claimed they never got the required forms in the mail, others said they returned them and still didn’t get the exemption.
But the problem is really with the property tax system itself.
Taxes ought to be based on a person’s ability to pay. The system ought to be comprehensible to the people who are taxed. Property taxes fail on both counts.
Property taxes should be illegal. Americans either own their land, houses or real property or they don’t. Fees for water, sewage, trash collection, etc. I have no problem with.
Of course, raking in the out-of-control spending would never cross their minds.
Property taxes have been around forever.
This article is problematic in that it suggests that the tax should be based upon “ability” to pay.
I own a small plot of land in rural America. If the woods ever catch on fire, the county fire department has to put it out. The county maintains the road by it. Either the county has to do that all for free or hit me with a property tax. We can quibble about the level, but I can’t see a good conservative argument for getting rid of the tax altogether.
Not really. They just need to lower some of the 6-figure salary's in school districts, stop free lunches, and other associated nonsense.
I live in Cook County and just received my property tax bill. The taxes increased 10% even though the property value dropped 10%. We do have an appeals process and I’ll weigh that option.
As for many people not receiving their homeowner’s exemption applications, I agree - from what I’ve heard from others, the mailing was sporadic at best.
Having said all that, I completely disagree with the statements at the end of the article “Taxes ought to be based on a person’s ability to pay. The system ought to be comprehensible to the people who are taxed”. Property taxes are based on value NOT the income of the occupants. There is a discount for seniors and low-income seniors. “Comprehensible to the people who are taxed” sounds exactly like another form of redistribution of wealth, allowing for lower taxes for the poorer homeowners at the expense of higher taxes to the wealthier homeowners.
Yup. From the Noble class - in this case, the new nobility, government employees who tell you either pay for their existence or be jackhammered off your property.
No different then the British Feudalist system the American settlers tried to overthrow 235 years ago.
Time to end the property tax. We can defend our own property with excise taxes to pay for police and military protection to augment citizen volunteers.
Property taxes are a rental you pay the taxing body for the privilege of living in your home. Actually, your home doesn’t actually belong to you. Try NOT paying your property taxes. You will end up standing by while the taxing body auctions your home for the balance of your taxes; (read:rental).
Most of the "services" you mention were previously done by volunteer groups or on a user fee basis. Private roads were common in the West; read the history of the Oregon Trail or any of the stage roads, not to mention the railroads.
The property tax is now used as an extortion gig by the Democratic Party and its allies in the public employee unions. You pay exorbitant rates for lifelong "employment" schemes for indolent garbage seeking comfy, safe jobs that have little real value providing almost no real services, but with gigantic pensions, perks, and minimal effort associated with them. They pay vigorish to Dim party hacks who make sure the patronage results in more thugs being elected.
All of it can be and was done better and cheaper over a century ago before the self appointed aristocracy known as Public Employees figured out that they could re-impose feudalism.
Yep. That’s why it is called Real Estate (Royal Estate), in that all property belonged to the king, and had to be paid for though taxes, crops, military service, etc.
How much you spend for your house should be based on ability to pay. If you don't want to pay for services such as libraries and fire departments, move to a place without libraries and fire departments. You can even find places with essentially no police protection, if you don't want to pay for that.
And we should all understand the term “fee simple”
Do you think we should tax the rich? Maybe corporations?
When I own property I get benefits from the city - and I pay for those... The problem comes when liberal elites run the city and decide to add on tax paid perks to give money to their friends and liberal causes - non-profits and all...
I own two homes. One is a Summer home and the other is my regular residence. I can only vote in one district. I am unable to vote on local tax issues in the district where my Summer home is.
I understand all about voting twice on state or federal issues, but I am being taxed on property I own in a town where I can’t vote on local issues.
I can understand reasonable local municipal taxes on property. What I am against is local SCHOOL taxes on property.
School taxes should be part of the income tax structure of the state so it is spread out more equitably.
You’ve got people in danger of losing their houses over school taxes where I live. They’re insane.
“Comprehensible to the people who are taxed” sounds exactly like another form of redistribution of wealth, allowing for lower taxes for the poorer homeowners at the expense of higher taxes to the wealthier homeowners.
I was a homeowner in Cook County during the '80s. I never did understand how my property tax bill was calculated. I am a computer programmer, and never could come up with an algorithm that would generate the same number as the one on my tax bill. Indeed, my calculated numbers were always significantly lower than the ones on my tax bills, no matter how I fudge the rounding rules. I just called the difference the "Daley tax" and attributed the difference to Illinois windage by the people preparing the bill.
So I believe that the intent of the word "comprehensible" is the dictionary definition: "capable of being comprehended; intelligable". Knowing what is going on doesn't have anything to do with redistribution.
A big problem is to base my taxes on what my neighbor sells his house for. If he received a big amount for selling his house why should my taxes be increased. This is like if he received a big salary increase, my income taxes should go up. Taxes should be on my purchase price not on a reappraisal based on someone else’s price.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.