Should Illinois therefore Chicago. Get a federal bailout of Penion debt? Now that Puerto Rico did? (Lombard: low crime, mortgage)

[Taco1234]

Originally Posted by CGab

I don't see Illinois ever putting a cap on property taxes. Their too much in the hole to afford it, if anything they will have no choice but to continue to raise the property taxes, income taxes and everything else they can tax! That's why we moved out of Illinois this past summer after my husband and I lived in Illinois our whole lives. Illinois is just getting out of hand taxing the crap out of their residents!

Exactly what we are doing this summer. Lived here my whole life, never thought I'd go. We have good jobs and there's lots we love about Chicago, but can't stomach paying back pensions drained by criminal politicians. It's so out of control and will only get worse. Where'd you go and what has your experience been like?

[Liledgy]

Originally Posted by CGab

This is VERY typical in the Western suburbs of Chicago!

We lived in the northern part of Plainfield (blocks from Naperville) in Will county. Are home was assessed at $375K and our property taxes were $10,500 this year and have consistently been over $9k for the past 10 years! Every home in our township had taxes over $8k! With the neighboring town of Naperville within blocks of our home, we had friends there who were paying between $13-$20k in annual property taxes! With NO relief in sight we moved to NW Indiana. My property taxes next year will be capped at 1% of my assessed property value by Indiana state law and no tax on food!

And I wouldn't call Naperville or northern Plainfield average. Of course some people pay 10k (or more) in property taxes, but not the average middle class Illinoisan.

[thunderstruck666]

Mike "I've made millions off of property tax appeals" Madigan will never allow a property tax cap to be brought to a vote. I also shop Dupage since I'm so close to there. Live at the far western edge of Chicago, so it's a pleasant drive on surface streets to cross the border. Toni Taxwinkle's soda tax provides that much more incentive to go there. And if I'm buying my pop there, I may as well buy the rest of my groceries. And since I'm there anyway, I may as well fill my car since gas is significantly cheaper than Chicago. If I'm hungry after a day of shopping, I'll patronize a restaurant or bar in Dupage as well before I come home. Sales tax is about 3% less out in Dupage. 7.5% Bloomingdale.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by Taco1234

Exactly what we are doing this summer. Lived here my whole life, never thought I'd go. We have good jobs and there's lots we love about Chicago, but can't stomach paying back pensions drained by criminal politicians. It's so out of control and will only get worse. Where'd you go and what has your experience been like?

We moved to Saint John, Indiana in May (near Dyer and Crown Point) and we LOVE it! People are genuinely nice here, the schools are excellent. My children are in the Lake Central school district which is fantastic! www.LCSC.US My daughters elementary school has 3 commuter labs and they have commuter class as a special. How many did my daughter's school have in Plainfield which was supposed to be top notch?? ZERO! We are far enough away from the "garbage". I feel St. John is comparable to North Plainfield, but actually nicer. We live in a newer community that's still being built. Most of my neighbors are from Illinois such as Tinley Park, New Lenox, Joliet and Frankfort. All the restaurants and stores you can think of are within 10 minutes tops. We still commute to Illinois for our jobs, but it's not a bad commute and it's well worth it. Paid $1.79 a gallon for gas 2 days ago. We are only about 38 miles SE of Chicago. We wish we moved sooner!


ABOUT ST. JOHN, INDIANA www.Stjohnin.com
In 2016 the Town of St John is the the 3rd best place to live in the region and the fourth safest place to live in Indiana and first place in Lake County. In 2015 NerdWallet awarded the Town of St John 17th best city in Indiana for young families.

[CGab]

Originally Posted by Liledgy

And I wouldn't call Naperville or northern Plainfield average. Of course some people pay 10k (or more) in property taxes, but not the average middle class Illinoisan.

True, but whether you pay $10k or $5k in property taxes Illinoisan's are seeing no tax relief in sight and quite the opposite. Not to mention if you want a single family home in a good school district your property taxes WILL be high and in most cases at least over $6K.

We have a community just a couple blocks from where I live now (Lake Hiils) with $700k-multi million dollar homes. Some with brick on all four sides that are newer homes. Their property taxes are between $7-$10k as their capped at 1%. The same home in Naperville would have taxes at $20K or more!

[Liledgy]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

All I can do is declare the Democratic party to be electorally dead to me and watch anxiously to see what happens. If they try to pass huge tax increases without doing major cuts and consolidation of govt I will leave the state and I suspect a lot of the rest of my family and a lot of businesses will follow suit. I already shop in DuPage Co and online to stick it to Cook Co for their sales tax increase and now soda tax.

Instead of " watching anxiously" why don't run for the school, park, library or city trustee position?
The state did drastically change (if your a lineman) the public pension plans of most public workers. Cities that own an electric utility are having a hard time replacing lineman. When they have,theey usually quit within a few months. They end up contracting out the work (where the lineman that quit work, lol). Very few talented tradesman are going to wait 10 years to be vested in a pension plan, if you leave before than you get nothing! On top of that most are to beat up to work past 60, let alone the new age for retirement 67. At the earliest (if you were fortunate to still be able to climb poles) you could retire at a 60, but would forfeit 42% of your pension (6% a year)! Very few lineman (only the unemployable) would take that deal.
But to get back to the point, the state is saving a lot of money (not when you pay to contract work) on the future pensions of people hired since 2011. They also passed a income tax increase that was helping.
If you have a skill, you should have no problem hooking on to a state, city or county job. I think once you see (I did) the total package, it's much, much better on the outside (at least for me). Most companies (and unions), your vested after 5 years, why take the chance at a city, county or the state and have to wait 10 years to qualify for A pension? That you can't touch till your 67. A lot can happen in that 10 year waiting period.

[Taco1234]

Originally Posted by CGab

True, but whether you pay $10k or $5k in property taxes Illinoisan's are seeing no tax relief in sight and quite the opposite. Not to mention if you want a single family home in a good school district your property taxes WILL be high and in most cases at least over $6K.

We have a community just a couple blocks from where I live now (Lake Hiils) with $700k-multi million dollar homes. Some with brick on all four sides that are newer homes. Their property taxes are between $7-$10k as their capped at 1%. The same home in Naperville would have taxes at $20K or more!

Nice! We're heading to atlanta...
Yes, the home we are renting in Lagrange has a property tax bill of 16-17k (I looked it up a few months ago and forget exact amount). We strongly considered buying a house in naperville a year ago (thank GOD we didn't) and it's bill was $12,500 (we were under contract for 625k) and we previously lived in Lombard
where our tax bill was $10,800.
So yes, over 10k tax bills are pretty normal in IL!

[Boris347]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Stop making sense

I will say I can understand pensions for Police and Fire. These people literally put their lives on the line and perform jobs that are essential to maintaining our society. No one else should be receiving lavish pensions to do work that is no more strenuous than your average desk job.

Should not make a difference as to what your Job is. If a Job has risks, you accept that when you apply and are given the Job. Risks come with the Job. A Power Company Lineman has more of a chance of being Killed on the Job than a Fireman or a Cop.

[Liledgy]

Originally Posted by Taco1234

Nice! We're heading to atlanta...
Yes, the home we are renting in Lagrange has a property tax bill of 16-17k (I looked it up a few months ago and forget exact amount). We strongly considered buying a house in naperville a year ago (thank GOD we didn't) and it's bill was $12,500 (we were under contract for 625k) and we previously lived in Lombard
where our tax bill was $10,800.
So yes, over 10k tax bills are pretty normal in IL!

The average middle class Illinois taxpayer isn't looking at homes priced at $625k!

[Taco1234]

Originally Posted by Liledgy

The average middle class Illinois taxpayer isn't looking at homes priced at $625k!

Well, our home in Lombard was 375k... and still a 10k tax bill.