Face it: Property taxes are forcing Illinoisans out of their homes

Illinois Policy ^ | October 13, 2016 | Austin Berg

[Mouton]

and prop 48 I believe.

[ctdonath2]

I moved from NY to GA. 3x the house, 1/2 the property taxes.

[Uncle Lonny]

The property tax is the most unfair tax of them all. You can be on your deathbed with no income and if you dont pay your tribute to the county mafia you will be thrown out of a home that you may have worked a lifetime to buy.

[Red Badger]

But their voting records will still show they vote in Illinois for decades!.....

[poinq]

“But they’ll still vote DEMOCRAT...........in Illinois............”

They only vote democrat for governor in one county but thats enough to win the state most times.

Illinois has a 11.5% sales tax in Chicago. Property taxes are the highest in the country. And they are threatening the income tax.

The funny thing: The teachers are still striking for more.

[SJackson]

Per poll about 9.9% of residents think Illinois is on the right track. Interesting that 15%-16% of the workforce are union members. Guess they're not all public sector unions.

[hal ogen]

MD (WDC suburb) to southern UT. 4 times the house...1/3 the taxes...and electricity at $.05 per KWH. A big plus is almost no LIB asshats to irritate me with their insanity and stupidity. The few LIBs here “know their place” and keep their pieholes shut.

[beaversmom]

Thanks for posting. I have no affiliation with Illinois in the least, but it’s still very troubling to hear about cities like Detroit and states like Illinois. None if it had to happen.

[SJackson]

evox is right that we’re not getting the full story. In Lake county $15m would equate to about $500m in market value. What he paid for it is irrelevant. Of course other than other democrat urban areas on the coasts that $500m home would be much cheaper.

[SoCal Pubbie]

With the reality, sadly, that California is now a one-party state, we can expect the Dems to move on Prop 13 via legislative action in the coming years. I am surprised they have not already done so.

[sleeper-has-awakened]

We moved from Chicago to Florida last year after seeing the writing on the wall. When we bought our house in Chicago in 1996 the property tax was $1800.00. When we moved in early 2015 the rate was $4800.00. After we sold and the tax hike of 2015 hit the new rate was $7000.00. That was a 68% increase all at once.

Very happy here in Florida, my tax savings from Chicago pays for 2/3 of my mortgage for the year. My house is bigger, the yard is bigger, the weather is nicer, the people are nicer. My daughter is following us next spring. Four tax slaves out of Chicago.

Many of my FB friends have also fled in the past 2 years.

[Vince Ferrer]

they’ll never get out of the hole on this because they’re driving taxpayers out - less taxpayers = a higher tax bill for the individuals who remain.

That is correct. The situation is a death spiral. Governments think they can get away with raising property taxes because the property can't get up and leave. But the taxes on the property affect the value of the property, and if the value of the property gets close to zero, people will walk away from the property. It will become a ghost town of perfectly good buildings, at least until the squatters move in.

[Freedom56v2]

This makes no sense to me—Property taxes are based on local taxation within the county of residence—not the state.

There is a lot of variation among municipalities, but paying $15,000 on a $227,000 is pretty unusual—especially for Lake County—Unless in Lake County the tax value of the house is considerably lower than the appraised value—i.e. for tax purposes house is taxed at $227,000 but on the market the house would sell for $375,000 or $400,000.

At least least for DuPage County where I live, it would not be a normal tax rate...My house is worth much more, and I am not paying $15,000 in 2016.

The majority of property tax goes to local school districts. If people think they pay too much, then they have 2 options—change school districts or vote out the spendthrift school board members and vote in some conservative taxpayers who will look for waste to cut.

Illinois has a myriad of problems, but I don’t believe the state controls local property taxes.

[Rockpile]

@33

But, but the cost is worth it to be able to reside in an earthly paradise
like Vietrahm.

PS, notice is name can spell HARM.

[EVO X]

If they pass single payer in Colorada, maybe a few will move to Illinois. Illinois will look like paradise to some of those folks..

[sarge83]

That is the problem, many of these are like locusts. They destroy where they live and then move on to greener pastures and bring with them the plague of liberalism and within a generation or so they destroy their new digs with the same stupidity they fled.

[itsahoot]

While property tax in California starts out at around 1% of the purchase price, compared to almost 7% of property value in Illnois

There used to be a thing such as homestead exemption that kept you from being taxed out of you homestead. Now you are just another sad story.

[Brian Griffin]

I’m prepared to alter the Constitution to permit just one more “amnesty” and to legalize the 1986 “amnesty” provided in return that:
1. The first sentence “citizenship by birth in USA clause” of Amendment XIV is voided and every child born in the USA after today shall have the citizenship of their mother
....
4. a Constitutional amendment imposes permanent protective tax, fee, and benefit caps effective January 1, 2019:
a. for any person or entity (within any jurisdiction), 8% on total state (and local) income taxation
b. 8% total maximum on excise, occupancy, sales and use taxes of all types, except...
c. no new government payment/purchase/provision mandate, federal tax or impost, excluding import duties
d. financial impositions on and related to privately owned real property (and its rental, repair, renovation and transfer) shall be limited to:
A. federal estate taxation on:
I. undeveloped land worth more than $10,000 an acre
II. habitually rented real property
B. under state (and local) law:
I. annual real property tax on a residential building and its curtilage of up to:
1. $2 per square foot of any finished/cooled/heated/plumbed open plan area on the first floor or higher, plus
2. $150 if the open plan area includes a food preparation counter or cooking unit, plus
3. $300 per finished/cooled/heated/plumbed room not in a taxed open plan area, but
a. $100 for half-baths, laundry rooms, attic/basement/over garage rooms not legal for bedroom use and
b. $0 on foyers, atriums, hallways, stairwells, closets, pantries, lanais, porches, and vehicular garages not legal for bedroom use
plus the following optional surcharge percentages
1. up to 15% to build/maintain public roads in the levying jurisdiction
2. up to 2% to provide free library service within 10 miles of the property
3. up to 2% to build/maintain public parks
4. up to 20%, if required by statewide law
less, in any tax year, 6% of the impact fees collected on the property in the prior twenty years
II. an annual tax of up to 1.5% of market value on other real property
III. recording fees of up to $50/instrument, but no more than $100/transfer in total
IV. impact fees of up to an absolute total of $6,000/housing unit and $2/square foot of enclosed non-residential space
V. total other construction related fees of up to $1 per square foot for a new building or on an existing building $30 plus $20 for each of the following trades involved: roofing, electrical, plumbing
....
We need to win the votes of Democrats in Democratic strongholds.

[Herman Ball]

In America you never own anything of value free and clear that is why there is such a struggle for power and control.

[bgill]

Texas is the same and has been for years. Property tax goes up 10% each year. People who have lived on our street for generations have either sold out or have turned their homes into rentals just to be able to keep them in the family. At one time, exactly 50% of the homes were for sale.