Assessor Explains High Property Taxes
- on 04.05.08
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Lake County has the distinction of having the highest property taxes in the midwest as reported by Forbes.
There has been action on the assessment side of the equation by the Citizens Action Project in bringing more transparency to the system. I understand their mission is to focus on assessment, which is admirable. I still can’t help lamenting the fact that they are missing a great opportunity to really lower taxes in the area.
Now, Grant Township Assessor, Walt Kubalanza has weighed in on the topic in a letter to the editor of the Daily Herald. [Emphasis Mine]
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High taxes aren’t the assessor’s fault People do not like property taxes. So when they increase dramatically, as they have in the past eight to 10 years, it is no surprise that the public and politicians running for office, call for cutting them. The first place they turn is to the assessors, who places a value on their real estate which has a direct correlation to the amount of tax they pay. People often dispute their assessments, doing extensive research into values of comparable homes mainly to get their property tax reduced. Because assessors are empowered by state statues to determine home values, the process is always subjective, done by a mass appraisal technique and can raise privacy issues if allowed in everyone’s home in order to fully appraise it. The rapid rising property values in the past eight years were certainly welcome to homeowners, since they represented an increase in wealth. That wealth was on paper but turned into cash if you sold your property or took out a home equity loan. As the property values shoot up so have the taxes, thus taking a bigger share of our disposal income. This is why homeowners on fixed incomes, typically older homeowners, are often the most vociferous opponents of property taxes. Ultimately, politicians and voters must face the reality that there is no free lunch. In Grant Township, there where four tax increase referendums on the ballot the last election, and they all passed. The best way to bring about tax relief is to reduce government and government spending. If these four referendums failed, every property owner would have seen a decrease in their tax bill. As a note, if every home in Grant Township decreases 20 percent in assessed value in 2008, your tax bill next year will stay the same or go up by the Tax Cap (CPI) amount. Think about it…teachers, firemen, and policemen will not take pay cuts. Gasoline, electric, heating bills, insurance, etc. for schools and government offices will not decrease. All these agencies will seek to receive the same or more tax dollars next year and every year thereafter. The obvious problem with all of the relief proposals made by politicians in office or running for office is that they don’t curtail spending. So tax revenues must be raised, sales tax, income tax, property tax, or whatever other tax they can come up with. Increased tax bills are not caused by your local assessor; address these issues with your local school boards, town boards, townships, county board, forest preserve, etc. Grant Township Assessor |
Walt is pretty much right on. There are a couple of statements where I disagree with which I’ll mention later, but first I’ll explain why he is correct. It is true that assessors appraise the values of homes, land and businesses. It is true that you can appeal your assessment in a attempt to lower your taxes. Do you realize though that by getting your assessment lowered, you are just shifting the tax burden to your neighbor? Assessment appeals are just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Assessor is not responsible for your ever increasing property taxes.
The fault of high property taxes lies with the taxing bodies who continue to increase their levy each and every year. Walt mentioned that taxing bodies could request the same amount of money as last year. While technically they can, I don’t know any that do. The trend is to maximize their levy regardless of their actual need. This is why our property taxes are so high.
This brings me to the statement “If these four referendums failed, every property owner would have seen a decrease in their tax bill.” I would have to disagree with this statement. Taxes would in all likelihood increase regardless because these same taxing bodies would make the maximum levy possible even without the referendum passage.
Finally, “politicians in office or running for office is that they don’t curtail spending” says it all. We have a spending crisis and not a funding crisis in our schools and in all governmental entities.
[...] jgillman wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLake County has the distinction of having the highest property taxes in the midwest as reported by Forbes. There has been action on the assessment side of the equation by the Citizens Action Project in bringing more transparency to the … [...]
Perhaps all the big government-types rent or something.
I think it is more like they want everyone else to help them pay to support their lifestyle. They know that by forcing others to pay their immediate financial burden is lowered. They don’t think about the long term effects of their decisions. The sad part is the unintended consequences of driving seniors, neighbors and businesses out of the community. This in turn then increases their tax burden even further.
I suggested that big-government types may all be renters b/c, as renters, they are not directly affected by the huge cost of property taxes(the key term is “directly”). Yes, they are indirectly affected by higher rent but perhaps that veil is enough to blind them to what’s really going on.
That veil blinds far too many.
[...] Last week I published the statements of Grant Towship Assessor, Walt Kubalanza explaining how the Assessor is not blame for the high taxes. This week, I have an excerpt from a letter to the editor claiming Mr. Kubalanza is not telling the truth. [...]