Obama’s smoke and mirror budget
The Patriot Post and the Heritage Foundation have analyzed Obama’s, two month late, $3.8 trillion budget, which relies on further tax increases on the wealthy, despite his having just won a $660...
View ArticleTax Caps provide backdoor referendum in decreasing home market
Comments on my post concerning the lower income elderly paying more in taxes even though their assessments were frozen and their property was decreasing in value prompted me to post the following...
View ArticleAssessed property values based on sales not investments
Property values usually track factors that affect housing supply and demand in a local community – good schools, low crime rate, moderate taxes and a highly skilled work force. This combination...
View ArticleTwo state reps attempt to limit backdoor referendums that use Tax Caps
The tax caps people desired, and what the Illinois General Assembly originally intended, was supposed to limit what municipalities could collect to the amount they had collected the previous year, plus...
View ArticleMunicipal budgets should balance services provided with taxpayers’ ability to...
Winnebago County’s fiscal year budget, which began October 1, 2014, was approved at the county’s last meeting in September. The budget process, however, doesn’t end with budget approval; the process...
View ArticleIs it time to get rid of Tax Caps?
Property tax bills have arrived and it is obvious that the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law – PTELL – commonly known as the Property Tax Cap Law, is not working as intended. PTELL was supposed to...
View ArticleWinnebago County is an excellent steward of taxpayer dollars
Last Sunday’s Rockford Register Star Opinion Section included a column written by recent county board appointee, David Boomer, describing his first experience/lesson in county government by impugning...
View ArticleTake advantage of college tax credit for middle class families
Your federal income taxes are due by April 15th. However, there’s still time to offset some of the costs of higher education by reducing the amount of your income tax by up to $2500 with an American...
View ArticleEAV Fluctuation has little effect on property taxes under Tax Caps
Most people in Rockford and around the state believe that when property values increase in a taxing district due to a real estate market turnaround, Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts expiring or...
View ArticleRockford property tax rate decreases for first time in ten years
Rockford property tax bills, which are scheduled to be mailed to taxpayers this Tuesday, May 2, 2017, will show a slight decrease in the tax rate for the first time in 10 years, due to an increase in...
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