4 ms·
"So, what do we do? Can we just pay 3x the property tax to the city and fund our roads? Our city already has pretty high property tax rates for a city in a stat
by smoyer 5y ago
"So, what do we do? Can we just pay 3x the property tax to the city and fund our roads? Our city already has pretty high property tax rates for a city in a state that already has pretty high property taxes. We can’t raise our property taxes, and we can’t raise any of the other taxes to make up for the difference. What is causing this and what do we do going forward?"
I'd love to have property taxes this "high" - I live in a village outside a small rural city in PA and my property taxes are about four times as much as the author's taxes. The author states that they'd need to assess property taxes at 3x in order to fund their infrastructure so we'd (in theory) be ahead of our infrastructure maintenance. (Clearly this comparison isn't apples-to-apples since our properties aren't directly comparable.) I think the real answer is that if we're going to restore communities, we're going to have to pay more than we're accustomed to.
- kansface 5y agoMy understanding is that Illinois is in a economic death spiral wherein taxes are high enough given the quality of life that people leave the state thereby increasing the burden on those who remain l, perpetuating the cycle. Pensions are the enormous, underfunded obligation that can’t be shed outside of bankruptcy. Increasing taxes only accelerates the problem, no? Even if you could stabilize your particular city, the looming crisis for the rest of the state will still destroy you eventually as proportionally more state money goes to paying pensioners who live out of state instead of maintaining infra.