“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Illinois’ property taxes are out of control, let taxpayers take driver’s seat

Illinois’ property taxes are out of control, let taxpayers take driver’s seat


Interesting that we are paying more than neighboring states in property taxes.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

7000 units of local government tend to do that to a tax bill. Consolidate School Districts! Abolish Townships!

Empower the People! Call ALL your politicians and demand they support Empowerment Zones!

Right to Work in Illinois - 2015!

Anonymous said...

This is a article which is well worth the time it takes to read. Take the number of days a individual must work to pay taxes and add in utilities plus insurance and not many days pay are left for the remaining expenses for the balance of the year.
Has any survey ever been made of what costs would be encountered if all of our country's debts were to have to be collected in one year or 3 years.
Sound impossible, what prevents a foreign country such as China from calling in our debt to their country.
The majority of us hate change and specifically change which take things away from us but those in government who make sure we continue to receive all of our "needs" and appear to be our best buddy may unintentionally be our worst economic friend.

Anonymous said...

The political parties do not improve the situation as representation votes strictly by party lines. At one time a candidate ran within the party and upon being elected voted with his own ideas ruling.
Today you are no longer voting for a individual candidate but are voting for a Democratic or Republican Party. Personally, my thoughts are that this is incorrect and dangerous and represents ownership rather than representation.
Practices such as this are everywhere today when some express personal insults to comments they disagree with or answer a comment with a comment of maybe its time for you to get your own blog. Comments such as this serve a few and display the limited knowledge of those bloggers. Eventually through their own desires they become fooled with their own reasoning that everyone is agreeing on the same thing because they are the only ones left. Good bye!


Anonymous said...

How about a Road District comprising of exactly 7.5 Miles of road - complete with a full time Highway Commissioner (Elected) and employee, equipment, salt, etc. Totally Stupid! And it is a line item on My Tax!
Ask many people in Peru and they think it is for Peru roads because nobody ever tells us exactly what each line item is paying for. I hope that law passed. You will see some jaws drop when people in Peru find out they are paying to maintain roads across the river in an EXCLUSIVE sub-division that pays NO MUNICIPAL TAX.
Now our over-paid Highway Commissioner will tell you that some of the PERU ROAD TAX goes to the city. But it is VERY LITTLE compared to the MILLIONS of dollars that the Peru Road District collects to maintain the road in front of a golf course, in a sub-division that is very wealthy!
Abolish Peru Road District!

Anonymous said...

The subject being property taxes in Illinois and how they in comparison to other surrounding states are out of control. What is surprising is that only the author of the article and the blog plus 4 who commented and myself. The topic was presented on the 14th and today is the 17th.
I realize that all who are disgusted with the entire high tax problem in Illinois are not going to comment, but I would never have guessed so few responders.Do people know that 1 out of every 8 state employees are paid a $100K or more per year along with a complete package of exclusive fringe benefits which includes the pensions which have the state in bankruptcy conditions. Since such a important situation bothers only a few I may be overemphasizing it, but I do know when the majority stop caring the downfall of the country has started.

Anonymous said...

3:28, the problem is that people in "The Valley" don't really care about local government. All you have to do is listen to the local radio station morning show. They guy tries to get people to call in on some serious issues and is met with crickets chirping. When he talks about inconsequential events such as fishing contests, spaghetti dinners, or Christmas lights, people ring in off the hook.
People around here just don't care - so I guess we get what we disserve... High Taxes that support the connected few.

Anonymous said...

3:28 PM, When the majority don't care, as is the case in the city of Peru, the downfall of the city, state, and country has been an ongoing theme for quite some time.
When a majority of people don't care enough to pay attention to local government, as is the case in Peru, the people elected to office will inevitably be of a sub-standard chartacter and ability level as the recent municipal election in Peru has once again proven.

Anonymous said...

reading the NT on-line, I notice several local commenters that don't believe local taxes are high enough. They want schools serving 3 meals a day, more people on the government payroll, and increased spending on just about everything. One guy even stated he supports a socialist system like the one used in Scandinavia and that our only hope is to redistribute local money! I'm not making this up, we have many people in the Illinois Valley that are, essentially, Socialists. Some of them hold government positions. Some of them are in the media.

Anonymous said...

8:51
and now the township is going to pay for their culverts and anything else they threaten to sue over!

Anonymous said...

Have you ever looked at a township map of LaSalle County? If you have, you might notice that almost all the townships are just about 36 square miles. You might also notice that almost all the townships are square shaped. Then, low and behold, you look at LaSalle Township and Peru Township. Each one appears to be about half the size of all the other townships. It appears as if they took a township that is the same size as Dimmick to the north, or Eden to the south, and cut it in half to create Peru Township and LaSalle Township. Funny, years ago, somebody took one worthless government and created two worthless governments.
Then you look at our County Board. 29 members I think. Doesn't matter because we have more members on our county board than Cook County does. We have a bigger County Board than Las Angeles California does! Wow - it never ends around here.
Because our citizenry does not give a hoot - our local governments just keep getting bigger and bigger and keep eating more of the pie. Drive down Interstate 80 between Ottawa and Peru and you pass through - count them - TEN School Districts, each with a full complement of administrators. Wow! Given all the schools around here we are just plain STUPID !!

Anonymous said...

And some Brainiac tried to force feed us another government body a few years ago. A county forest preserve district! They almost got away with it until a few people got enough people to sign a petition and disconnect each township from the forest preserve.

Three things need to happen over the next ten years in LaSalle County:

1. Cut the number of board members in half.
2. Do away with townships, change the county to a commission form.
3. Cut the number of school districts in half (if not more).

Anonymous said...

Just got my property tax bill - why are all the different governments charging for Social Security all of a sudden? I don't remember seeing that last year!

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:21 PM
Hope those 3 things will be done before 10 years but truthfully I doubt it. Some of the reasons are that too few care and those involved know it, another reason is that today's politician wants more never less, most old time rulers grew up with and probably truly believe that you don't have enough representation until the room is packed full of representatives. Lastly consider the fact that as numbers are reduced the worry becomes who is going to lose their position?

Anonymous said...

Local governments have always taxed for social security benefits. Your tax rate is basically unchanged if you live in Peru. It's right there on your bill. Look again. No conspiracy.

Anonymous said...

9:41 - It has never been a line item before, it was mixed in with the total. Why break it out separately? FYI - Peru did not break out Social Security - all the other governments did. I'll look at the bill from last year - something tells me the main line item will be near the same amount and the SS line is extra.

Anonymous said...

The city does not break it out unless they did not levy for it again. the county clerk or treasurer is the one who itemizes the tax bill. All that matters is the total tax rate and tax amount. Last year and this year are both on the bill. For the record, my taxes went DOWN in Peru again.

Anonymous said...

Sure your taxes went down. Peru didn't give the movie theater a million dollars.

Anonymous said...

I wish Peru would have given that money to the movie theater people. I need something to do when I come back home to visit.