A press release from State Rep. David McSweeney:
Rep David McSweeney’s Property Tax Relief Bill Moves Forward
Springfield, IL… The Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee unanimously advanced legislation yesterday aimed at giving Illinois residents some much-needed property tax relief by passing State Representative David McSweeney’s (R-Barrington Hills) House Bill 178.
HB 178 would freeze the property tax extension within most property tax extension limitation law (PTELL) township general funds for a one-year period, the 2015 levy year, which is billed in 2016.
A new report released from WalletHub ranks Illinois as the worst state in the US to be a taxpayer – ranking 51st when the District of Columbia is considered.
According to the report, residents here in Illinois have the highest state and local tax obligations, paying two and a half times more than the lowest tax states.
David McSweeney
“I’m pleased the House Revenue and Finance Committee acknowledged that Illinois taxpayers need some relief,” Rep. McSweeney stated.
“Property tax relief is something I hear about frequently from my constituents. The time to provide Illinois homeowners with some property tax relief is long overdue.”
The bill would impose a one-year freeze on township general fund tax levies in townships which have populations of less than 100,000 and are in areas subject to the PTELL.
The bill has bipartisan support and awaits a vote on the House floor.
= = = = =
All townships in McHenry County have fewer than 100,000 people.
Once tax rates reached highest-in-nation-status, there is no rational argument to support that they will not continue higher.
Woodstock illustrates the death spiral of McHenry County property values.
Mortgage rates are a bit below 4%, and property tax rates are a bit above 4%.
Both payments must be made to retain any legal ownership claim in a home.
Would a homebuyer take on a mortgage rate of 8% to buy a home in Woodstock?
With the proviso that half of the mortgage rate is floating , and historically rises more than 10% per year?
Is it logical to assume that property values can ever rise in an area wherein any rise in value is taxed at over 4%?
As values continue to fall, properties disintegrate and leave the tax rolls.
Businesses refuse to pay 4% taxes (an absurd rate when national average is around 1.5%) and demand tax concessions or grants of free money or both, so no contributory commercial growth can logically be assumed.
And no matter how confusing levy, extension, PTELL, etcetera sound, it is very simple: taxing bodies take more money every year.
As the larger amount of tax money taken is divided up as the responsibility of smaller increments of home value, tax rates rise.
As tax rates rise, tax rates must rise higher and faster, as a result of the feedback loop described above.
No county board member or manager has been willing to answer the question: what tax RATE is the maximum you believe sustainable?
Is that because we have already surpassed it?
County Board members could answer the question of how high a tax rate is sustainable by relating it to tax rates across the country.
Compare and contrast Woodstock IL property tax rate of 4% to this national data:
According to RealtyTrac study March 2015:
*Nationwide, the average effective property tax rate for all single family homes in 2014 was 1.29 percent.
(Woodstock is above 4 percent).
*States with the highest effective property tax rates were New York (3.01 percent), Texas (2.18 percent), Illinois (2.15 percent), Connecticut (2.11 percent) and New Jersey (2.01 percent).
(Woodstock is above 4%)
*States with the highest average property taxes in dollars for single family homes were New York ($15,625), New Jersey ($8,108), New Hampshire ($5,795), Connecticut ($5,646), and Hawaii ($5,024).
(Any homeowner paying $5000 on their $125,000 Woodstock bungalow should look at that Hawaii stat and consider the future value of their own property based on relative cost of carry).
States with the lowest effective property tax rates were Alabama (0.40 percent), Wyoming (0.55 percent), Colorado (0.55 percent), West Virginia (0.60 percent) and Tennessee (0.64 percent).
(Woodstock is above 4%. All evidence supports the assertion that people can be supplied necessary services for staggeringly lower tax rates).
*Among the 1,042 counties with sufficient tax assessor and home value data analyzed in the report, those with the highest effective property tax rates in 2014 were Westchester County, New York, in the New York metro area (7.53 percent), Bexar County, Texas, in the San Antonio metro area (3.32 percent), De Kalb County in the Chicago metro area (3.27 percent), Passaic County, New Jersey in the greater New York metro area (2.98 percent), and Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (2.96 percent).
(Aside from the outlier Westchester County (home of the Hedge Fund Managers and Clintons), the highest tax rates in the nation are 25% LOWER than Woodstock Illinois; Woodstock is above 4%.)
*Counties with the highest average 2014 property taxes in dollars for single family homes were Westchester County, New York ($56,124), New York County, New York ($38,574), Nassau County, New York ($11,587), Marin County, California ($11,422), and Bergen County, New Jersey ($11,159).
(Any Woodstock IL homeowner with a $300,000 home is paying more property taxes ($12,000) than in Nassau County NY (median home value $456,700**), Marin County California(median home value $912,800**), or Bergen County New Jersey (median home value $414,500**)).
*SOURCE: http://www.realtytrac.com/news/home-prices-and-sales/property-tax-rates-highest-for-homeowners-who-have-owned-between-five-and-15-years-own-high-end-or-low-end-homes/
** Zillow.com
Why stop with townships, across the board salary freeze for every public sector worker.
Freeze collective bargaining agreements.
Freeze administrator contracts.
Freeze stipends.
Eliminate rollover of sick days.
No post retirement bonuses.
Furloughs where possible.
Year to year administrator contracts.
1 year collective bargaining agreements.
Collective bargaining agreements and budgets must be approved by voters.
Townships are an easy target for politicians.
This bill is about as sick a joke as any politician could put forward.
Townships are NOT the problem.
Some actually reduced their property taxes due to the slide of property values.
McHenry County kept taxing at the same rates!! School districts kept increasing their tax rates!!!
For Susan: Property taxes are only part of the problem.
Unless politicians are willing to tackle what we pay fireman and police, we will continue to be the highest taxed.
Unless residents are will to vote DOWN the guaranteed THREE percent per year increase in public sector pensions we will continue to be the highest taxed.
Unless we repeal prevailing wage laws, we will continue to be the highest taxed.
Unless we face reality and eliminate unions in the public sector, Illinois will never recover from its current debt.
Anyone who wants to look at consolidation may want to look at library boards and fire districts.
Again, Townships are not the problem.
However, if Springfield wamted to do something positive, legislators would return the Township annual meeting to what it was designed for: REGISTERED VOTER PARTICIPATION IN THE FORM OF PUTTING
FORWARD RESOLUTIONS AT THE MEETING!
Voters have been silenced by requiring thirty days notice for an item to be on the agenda, after BOARD approval.
I like Dave on most things but on this one he was taken very bad advice!!
Property taxes provide the oceans of money to be spent fulfilling desires of those empowered to spend.
With no practical limitations on the amount of money available to spend, I see no hope of survival.
Capping property tax rates could provide some hope of survival.
Capped property tax rates could put a floor under our plummeting home values, and embolden contributory migration to the region.
Without tax rate caps, there is no pressure against any sort of spending on any political hearts desire.
I looked at my tax bill and the lowest item is the Township.
Instead of attacking the low hanging fruit why not attack the gorilla in the room… SCHOOL DISTRICTS!
Nobody wants to stand up to them and be labeled as hating our children, but the reality is that is where our money is going.
Instead, we have Franks and McSweeney going after the easy Township targets so they can pat themselves on the back and tell everyone that they are saving us taxpayers so much money.
NOT!
DO SOMETHING REAL AND THEN TELL US ABOUT IT!
Unless we charge politicians who voted in the past not to fund pensions and take their pensions away and put those politicians in jail.
Remember the lockbox.
Borrowing from funds for another project should never be allowed.
If people want something taxes should be raised; otherwise it is all an illusion and we are now at the end of the rainbow.
Also all of these businesses that are given perks to move from state to state or areas to area should have to pa back with interest money taken when they don’t complete their end of the bargain.
Builders also overbuilt in the 2000’s and wanted residential which costs more money due to schools.
Where are all the businesses the so called free market republicans tout?
Look at McHenry.
It is a ghost town.
They tore down farms and homes to make a quick buck and get home town rule and then everything collapsed.
McSweeney and Franks should do something REAL for us.
Attacking the least expensive item on my tax bill so that they can pat themselves on the back is ignorant!
Man up boys and go after the real money… the school districts take 75% of our taxes.
Chase that one down and then you will have done something!
State Rep. Fortner said McSweeney’s bill will save the owner of a $350,000 house a grand total of two dollars on his tax bill.
Whoopee.