This comment from just popped up under this May 5, 2014, story about McHenry County’s high taxes”
Well I see that the entire McHenry County is a shocked as I am.
Solution ….. Tax Revolt by the people!
Enough is enough!
What are they going to do put a lean on thousands of peoples homes? Put us all in jail? I don’t think so.
My taxes are now on a 417,000 fair cash value home 15,600 ish dollars.
Soon I’ll have to abandon my home.
Oh by the way….. *** Someone at McHenry County when I called said that there are pockets of McHenry county that are all ready abandoning their homes due to being unable to sell them due to the outrageous taxes.
If anyone would like to organize this revolt with me please e-mail me @ carolsnelten@gmail.com
How high are McHenry County taxes compared to other high real estate tax counties in Illinois? The percentage figures are found by dividing one’s tax bill by the value of one’s home.
LETS DO THIS! NOW IS THE TIME!
I am totally serious…..
It is up to us…..
I always wanted be on national news …lol.
And this certainly would make national news.
= = = = =
Meanwhile,
- the McHenry County Board is on track to extract another $3 million for its nursing home, Valley Hi, while it has over $40 million in the bank and is breaking even on its $10-11 million operating budget and
- school districts throughout McHenry County are again planning to tax to the max, assuming there is not a tax freeze passed by the Illinois General Assembly.
Timely post, given were all writing checks this weekend, to send to the McHenry County dumpster.
This is an activism I’d gladly participate in, given my opinion that IL. Politics and voting are a fraud.
Go Carol!
Was just in McHenry for two weeks and would gladly have gone door to door with any initiatives she had.
But in lieu of that, if she’s serious, put me down for $100 to help defray costs.
The best way to revolt is to totally abandon Illinois and take your wealth
with you ASAP, as others have done or are planning on doing.
For the middle class, there is nothing here worth staying for.
Why stay and feed the Beast that intends to destroy everything you
and your family have ever worked for ?
“What are they going to do put a lean on thousands of peoples homes?”
The answer is YES.
Every county does that every year when they have their Tax Lien auctions for those properties that fail to pay their property taxes.
Investors basically pay the unpaid taxes on thousands of properties and then possess an actual tax lien certificate.
If you don’t repay the principal plus accumulated penalties and interest, the certificate holder has the right to foreclose on your property, regardless of how much equity you may have.
So, if you are unhappy with your property tax bill, the VERY LAST thing you should do is not pay your property tax bill.
What you should do is communicate with the entities that levy the taxes starting with:
A key part of that exercise should be to have the taxing body begin the process to re-evaluate what/how they spend their money.
Given the financial condition of the State and its residents, the local governments actually need to rationalize their spending (and that doesn’t mean holding the spending increase to only 2%, it actually means CUTTING spending).
That means schools need to evaluate their staffing plans and their Administration and whether they should be investing in things like football bleachers.
Other entities may need to defer buying new police cars or purchase a used snow plow versus a new one, etc.
Park Districts need to defer plans to acquire more land, or scrap plans to build a new indoor recreational center, etc. And all entities need to evaluate the full compensation structure of its employees.
It all starts with each entity starting the process to rationalize and restructure the cost structure of that entity to reflect the new financial reality that everyone finds themselves in today.
Oc, what equity are you talking about? Illinois leads the nation in upside down mortgages. Leads the nation in pre foreclosure status and also the spread in the delusional asking and actual getting, of those trying to dump their props.
It would take an institutional investor to buy up a Mac tax revolt. But let me know who is stupid enough to come in to buy so I can make sure I have no possible stock interest in these losers.
By the time they waded through what was non encumbered with other liens, bankruptcys and all the other high risks associated with certificates, they’d be lucky to get CD rates back on their effort.
And what if an elderly couple gets on the news with a piece on the evil Tax Cert people forclosing? Count on an Althoff or similar political gadfly to ride to the rescue proposing leg to stop the practice. Illinois is an investors nightmare.
Oc, you go and have a chat with thse 7 K or so taxing authority’s in Illinois. Carol and I as well as many others are talked out.
Chicago will probably hike property taxes this year, will be interesting to see the commercial / industrial vs residential hikes.
Cook County passed a sales tax hike this year.
Rauner has proposed for a partial state pension pick-up for Chicago Public Schools, to help bail out CPS and Chicago.
Big mistake.
One of the primary drivers of the TRS (teacher and administrator pension fund outside Chicago) unfunded liability, which is the single biggest fiscal problem in the entire state, is the state pension pick-up for school districts outside Chicago.
That has incented school districts to hike salaries and dump the pensions off on the state.
If the employer is responsible for salaries and pensions, they are less likely to hike salaries so high.
But the water is over the dam, after 45 years of salary hikes, TRS pension fund is in such miserable shape less than 40% funded, that simply shifting the pension contribution back to the school districts will result in even higher local property taxes or service cuts.
In other words we are in a big mess with no good solutions, and it’s a fight between taxpayers vs state and local government pensioners and public sector workers, simply put, laws were passed that caused fiscally irresponsible actions and the laws are unsustainable and should have never been past.
Here’s what will happen if property taxes are frozen.
Many of the the county and local taxing districts will cut where it hurts those taxpayers who will then fight for higher taxes.
For example, a lot of people could care less about sports and extra curriculars, and legitimately the primary focus of school should be reading and writing and academics, but none the less, around the country, when money gets short, sports and extra curricular activities are typically included and typically highlighted in budget cuts.
Because the school districts know those parents and students will mobilize to fight for higher taxes.
So property tax freeze = painful cuts (and we can think of plenty of other painful cuts; the above was just an example, think of whatever cut would cause you the most pain, and if there enough of you who will then mobilize for a tax hike to avoid that cut, you can be sure in many cases that cut will happen in the case of a cash crunch).
The next principle is money flows from all directions to county and local taxing districts; it’s not just property tax revenue, but they get revenue from the state, Federal, fees, money from the state covers employer pension contributions in school districts outside Chicago, etc.
The next principle is what are the cost drivers.
Pensions are the biggest cost drivers for public education.
School district pensions outside Chicago are a masterful scheme by the teacher union (and administrators) and politician cartel.
The legislators and Governors made the rules.
The state constitution as interpreted by the IL Supreme Court prohibits changing any rules one an employee has earned that benefit by working while that rule is in place, a concept known as accrual.
Even if the rule results in unaffordable pensions.
The state picks up most the employer contribution to the pension fund.
The school districts during collective bargaining negotiation with teacher unions and administrator negotiations, has agreed in the majority of the school districts in Illinois, to pick up some or all of the employee contribution to the teacher pension fund.
The state has shorted their contribution to the pension fund, allowing some of the “savings” to be used for salary hikes, which hikes the pension, which worsens the pension underfunding.
So the system as designed is a complete failure.
And if you freeze property taxes, painful cuts will ensue.
Given that the above was a scam not explained to taxpayers by the politicians and unions, the taxpayer has legitimate recourse to change the constitution and claw back hiked benefits and pensions.
That is the only fair solution.
That can be accomplished by passing a House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (HJRCA) or Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment (SJRCA), the Governor signs the amendment, the amendment goes on the ballot, voters pass the amendment.
The HJRCA or SJRCA should repeal in its entirety the pension sentence added to the Illinois State Constitution on December 15, 1970.
“Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.”
If reasonable taxes are desired the taxpayers have to understand they have been deceived.
The taxpayers have to articulate how they have been deceived to the public sector unions and workers.
The public sector union members and workers have largely been indoctrinated that they did everything they were asked to do.
In reality, the public sector unions and the politicians created laws that were not properly explained to taxpayers or public sector workers and that resulted in great financial harm to taxpayers to benefit politicians and public sector workers.
So the individual public sector worker cannot have their cake and eat it too.
The public sector union members paid their union to represent them, and their union schemed with politicians to create unaffordable pensions by hiking pension benefits and salaries.
DJ, The basic premise was to have all taxpayers refuse to pay their taxes.
That means everybody, whether they’re underwater or own their house free and clear.
I’ve been to several tax lien auctions and purchased many myself.
I can tell you that there would be no shortages of buyers if there happened to be a max tax protest.
The returns on these type of investments can be extremely lucrative.
The great thing about tax liens is that they are placed, by statute, in 1st position, ahead of the mortgage holder.
As to Althoff riding to the rescue to change the tax lien statutes, good luck.
The statutes exist to attract tax lien buyers to pay the unpaid property tax levy.
That provides the cash necessary for the local taxing entities (i.e. school districts, fire dept, villages, counties, etc.), to fund daily operations.
The legislatures won’t take kindly to home owners that are purposely refusing to pay their property tax bill and them complaining about getting foreclosed upon.
Occam has excellent advice.
Do two things, then more.
First, print out your own tax statement and examine the dollar amounts and the percentages of total tax and who gets what.
Secondly, form, or participate in, advocacy groups to demand that tax recipients (schools, for example, municipalties, FDs, libraries, etc.) cut their expenses.
Teacher salaries and administrators’ salaries are out-of-sight. Demand cuts in services, if you want lower taxes.
At the next election, vote in those who will cut your taxes.
Oc, in that you have real experience in Tax Certs, I bow to your expertise.
Looked at it years ago and it’s not for me.
However, I’m still on board with an organized tax revolt.
I’m convinced the only way to change Illinois, is to cut off all funds to Gov., until the people who actually pay the bills are heard.
Besides, the less money Illinois Gov. has, the less mischief they can get into.
After all, my first political memory is Powell’s $800 K stuffed in shoeboxes.
Corrupt Illinois hasn’t changed a bit since.
How do you starve the beast?
Abandoning all spending, home upkeep, charitable donations, volunteer work, and respect for persons empowered to set our tax rates.
Refuse to prosper, invest, or work beyond bare personal subsistence needs.
Seek to obtain maximum benefits from social assistance programs.
Refuse to contribute to any community project, because there is no community, our situation has devolved to every individual forced to struggle for individual survival.
And when you see a board member or councilman or village official, refuse to enter in any social discourse:
Carol Here,
Here is my prediction, coming this spring you will see about 1/3 of McHenry County real estate go up for sale.
Until this last assessment I thought sure my taxes are high but doable considering my home.
Now with this new assesment (2015) my taxes are no longer worth my while to continue to live here.
Where does this end?
I have lived in McHenry county for 12 years, my taxes were a bit under 10k now they are 15.6k.
Where does that leave any reasoniable persons thinking?
Well if all remains the same in another 12 years my taxes will be @ 22k.
I’m sure my home will lose value do to the taxes so we will be paying 22k on a home valued @ 200 – 250k.
We are FAST becoming Detroit.
As one person commeted above get out while you can.
I’m thinking this is the solution for my husband and I.
We can’t leave the state but we can move to unincorporated Cook County.
– Margaret Thatcher
And yes subsiding other people outrageous pensions, cadillac healthcare retirement plans, buying school lunches, subsidizing nursing home care, etc….. Is Socialism.
Certainly there are those who need a deserve help Vets, the truly disabled and such, but not all those who have there hands in the McHenry County resdribution of wealth pot!
I laugh at the notion that we are a Republican county.
I feel for the kids if we continue down this road they will be paying 70-80 cents on the dollar earned into the bottomless pit.
It’s so easy to see but so many still blinded.
Or they simply don’t care.
Or you canrealize that your epiphany came late, and stay to fight for equitable treatment of those left to suffer the behavior of elected officials who are either ignorant of facts but willing to be educated, or aware of facts but indifferent to ordinary population consequences, or ignorant of facts but willing to research and learn.
This is incredible, this needs to be taught in our schools.
Why elected officials perceive a never ending supply to “County Operating Expenses” as opposed to a finite supply “family living budget” we have to operate under.
Our present school tax as part of tax bill dwarfs all other imposed taxes on the annual basis and of course being a disabled retired 20 year vet with no kids in school paying this high rate has to be changed.
Everyone please show up at the September22 Woodstock D200 school board meeting at which they will approve the budget setting a 5% property tax rate in Woodstock.
There are stunning statistics about the percentage of household income taken.
Example: median household income in Woodstock, owning median value home must pay over 15% of income to property taxes.
National average (property taxes as a percentage of household income): 3.5%.