How do you afford the property taxes in Illinois??? (Chicago: middle-class, 2015)

[HeadedWest]

Originally Posted by linicx

If you live in Portland, you do not live in tiny town rural Illinois. I do and I pay ... $53.00 for a carton of cigarettes, ...

I think I have figured out your budget problem.

[ccjarider]

Originally Posted by linicx

NO, NO? Ho, ho, ho, Santa. If you live in Portland, you do not live in tiny town rural Illinois. I do and I pay $3.00 for a can of generic tomatoes, 9% locate retail tax, $53.00 for a carton of cigarettes, and $3.89 for a gallon of gas.

Aaah, now I see - you are a victim.

If these prices bother you - open a competing store, charge lower prices and you will make a ton of money. Clearly the current store is charging usurious amounts of $ for these goods that they must be buying for a very low price and then ripping you off because you have no choice.

I see opportunity where you see victimization.

Where I currently reside is irrelevant to the topic.

[linicx]

It is relevant if you live in Oregon and do not pay Illinois taxes. And I suspect you don't really understand rural life. Usury? Yes. It's a fact of life if I don't want to drive 50 miles to save fifty cents which explains why I buy bulk when I do. Why should I be a victim? I knew what it was 37 years ago. Rural towns change or die from lack of attention. .

If you have the capital assets to open a grocery store in a town of 2000 I wish you good luck on your new adventure. Age is not on my side, but I really would like to do just that.

Originally Posted by ccjarider

Aaah, now I see - you are a victim.

If these prices bother you - open a competing store, charge lower prices and you will make a ton of money. Clearly the current store is charging usurious amounts of $ for these goods that they must be buying for a very low price and then ripping you off because you have no choice.

I see opportunity where you see victimization.

Where I currently reside is irrelevant to the topic.

[Tapped out]

I'm in Rockford. House is worth $300k. My property taxes jumped last year from $7500 to $8400. KEEP THAT IN MIND - taxes GO UP! quite honestly, I'm upper middle class but I simply can't sustain a $900 increase in one year. I'm tapped. Want to buy my house, lol?

[linicx]

My taxes were lowered over 50 percent. I am not near Chicago or I-80, but I am very rural.

[Tyryztoll]

I'm the OP. We were in McHenry for a year and then we moved to North Texas. Never did get around to buying that house. Renting here for now as well. TX property taxes seem to average between 4 and 6 grand a year, but salaries here are impressive and no state income tax pushes your money even further.

We miss McHenry, though. We wanted to stay and rent for another year, but also wanted to upgrade a bit on living quarters, so I set out to find one more room and a basement and absolutely could not find anything in our price range that wasn't a dump without going all the way out near Rockford. Then I got a job offer here and we found a brand new, 2,000 sq ft home to rent for $1500 a month. Couldn't pass it up at the time.

If we ever decide to come back up that way it will probably be to Wisconsin because of the property tax situation in IL. Took a look at some homes in McHenry and Crystal Lake just for the fun of it the other day, and wow.....once again the property taxes slapped me back to reality in a hurry.

[linicx]

Illinois taxes support many things including schools, parks and hospitals, roads and bridges, etc. I like having a great little hospital within a few blocks, and I love our big parks. And I like the idea that 38,000 state and federal roads crisscross the state. I don't have to drive 30 miles out of my way to cross the river.

This is some of the things real estate tax money buys. If you don't pay for it, you don't have quality hospitals and beautiful parks. I lived in some of these places and I learned the daily cost of living was not much different than in central Illnois - which is MUCH cheaper than Cook County or any area above 1-80. I don't like paying a park sticker so I can drive through a so-clalled public park one time a year.

[MSchemist80]

Every state in the USA has schools, parks, hospitals, roads, and bridges. Most other states manage to provide them without taxing old people out of their homes with insane property taxes and going de-facto bankrupt at the same time. This is an almost uniquely Illinois problem not being able to efficiently provide government services which has its roots in the inefficient and redundant nature of local Illinois governments and employee salaries and pensions negotiated by corrupt unions in bed with corrupt politicians.

[linicx]

Most of the other states you talk about do not have 8 million people living in one county where the majority of collected tax money is returned. (Ask the state treasurer, I did.). Most of the other states certainly do not have 12 million residents, nor are most of those other states split in half by a large river. that is nearly 200 miles long that requires bridges plus lock and dams.

That Chicago politicians make bad deals with Chicago teachers, and unions, is not the fault of the other residents. Our other 101 counties do not have the voice of Cook county. Cook is the sole county that sends at least 200m/l politicians to Springfield to make decisions that affect the rest of the state.

Old people get tax breaks other states don't give. In MO, $750 is the top tax break on an income of $25,000. My IL tax break is much greater. You need to remember something about taxes. Taxes when living in a city is greater than taxes when living in the county. And location is everything. The best location amongst a densely populated area has the highest price tag, and the greatest tax burden. This is why downstate IL taxes are not much different than Richardson TX for the same 3bd/2ba ranch with 2 car garage. In a nice location the IL house with basement it will probably rent for around $1200/mo.

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by linicx

Most of the other states you talk about do not have 8 million people living in one county

Old people get tax breaks other states don't give.

That makes it even more pathetic that they have all these people conveniently in 1 county as opposed to dispersed evenly throughout the entire state. As for tax breaks, my mother has a $8.5k bill which she gets $200 and $500 off for senior citizen and homestead exemption. Big help!