What a concept.

A wealth tax—and that is what a property tax is—assessed according to what the item is worth.

Some states try to go with 100% of value; others debase the value.

That is what happens in Illinois.

In McHenry County, real estate is assessed at one-third of a three-year average. (You can blame me for agreeing to the three-year average language in the 1970’s. I should not have.)

But, assessing property is not good enough for some of Chicago’s politically connected.

Tim Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday that Alderman Ed Burke was trying to cut now-indicted Tony Rezko’s real estate tax assessment, even though Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan had based it on the purchase price of the property.

If Burke had succeeded, past Governor Rod Blagojevich buddy Rezko

“would have saved Rezmar (Rezko’s firm) more than $390,000 in real estate taxes. And Burke would have gotten 20 percent of that savings, according to Daniel Mahru, Rezko’s former partner.”

The Sun-Times seems to have a new section for political stories that don’t get front page coverage. It’s called, “THE WATCHDOGS.” That’s where I found this.