The Civic Federation has issued a report entitled, “ESTIMATED EFFECTIVE PROPERTY TAX RATES 2007-2016: Selected Municipalities in Northeastern Illinois.” For McHenry County, it has calculated effective tax rates for four communities: Woodstock – 3.6% Harvard – 3.47% Algonquin – 3.09% … Continue reading
Mike Fourcher’s “The Daily Line” email today talks about the apparent impending repeal of the soda tax by the Cook County Board. Included is information about property taxes. What first caught my eye was the follwoing sentence: But after decades … Continue reading
The real estate tax figures released by the Tax Foundation this week are from 2014, but that’s the most recent data available. Presented, along with other information is the effective tax rate for each state. “This is the average amount … Continue reading
I was reading the second of the Chicago Tribune’s article on real estate assessments in Cook County and was struck be the following paragraph: In the end, the property taxes she paid that year represented more than 2 percent of … Continue reading
According to a Tax Foundation report, Illinois is not the highest property tax state in the nation. We come in third, behind New Jersey and New Hampshire. The average effective real estate tax rate (total real taxes paid divided by … Continue reading
I have been following effective tax rates for decades. When I was State Representative I regularly asked the Legislative Research Unit to determine them for various parts of Illinois. Why? They are the only way to compare property tax burdens. … Continue reading
The only way to compare property tax burdens is to divide one’s property tax bill by the value of one’s home. That’s what the Chicago Tribune did in November of 2015. The effective tax rates found for McHenry County towns … Continue reading
Every time I see Chicago’s having financial problems I think of garbage collection. I think of three men on a truck. Then, I think of how garbage trucks in Crystal Lake have one man (except for picking up bags of … Continue reading
The inequity of the Illinois real estate tax system hit home again last Thursday as I read Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown’s piece. In it, he points out that Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas has her Water Tower Place condo … Continue reading
I didn’t know that writing that a tax levy is designed to make certain that a tax district would get the maximum it could from property taxpayers’ pockets would be such a startling concept. In his comment on my article … Continue reading
I didn’t know that writing that a tax levy is designed to make certain that a tax district would get the maximum it could from property taxpayers’ pockets would be such a startling concept. In his comment on my article … Continue reading
Some have suggested that I have merely re-fighting a battle I lost in 1974. Whatever the reason, mass transit thoughts keep rising to the surface of my consciousness. Today I offer three ideas, one political and two substantive. The political … Continue reading
Some have suggested that I have merely re-fighting a battle I lost in 1974. Whatever the reason, mass transit thoughts keep rising to the surface of my consciousness. Today I offer three ideas, one political and two substantive. The political … Continue reading
