{"id":62,"date":"2015-02-06T08:51:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/a-property-tax-freeze-not-without-school-funding-reform.html"},"modified":"2015-02-24T21:21:26","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T03:21:26","slug":"a-property-tax-freeze-not-without-school-funding-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/a-property-tax-freeze-not-without-school-funding-reform.html","title":{"rendered":"A property tax freeze? Not without school funding reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

My fellow Illinoisians will be aware that one of the proposals of new governor Bruce Rauner that\u2019s in the news<\/a> is his proposal for a two-year freeze in property taxes.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Now, as you know, I\u2019m not a fan of property taxes<\/a>, because they penalize one specific type of consumption (a large home) over others (e.g., spending the equivalent amount of money on luxury cars), but I at least find the Illinois method of determining taxes to be a reasonable one: \u00a0(1) assess all the property in the locality, (2) determine the total amount of revenue from property taxes required by the particular governing body, and (3) allocate a proportionate share to each property-owner based on the relative value of each property. \u00a0This makes a lot more sense than what I understand to be the method in, say, Michigan, of determining a fixed rate per thousand of assessed value, and applying that year in, year out, so that in boom years the local governments are rolling in dough, and in lean years they\u2019re in trouble.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Anyway, here\u2019s what the Tribune has to say:<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cTwo keys to this: We\u2019re going to give more state support for education. That eases up on the property tax burden, No. 1,\u201d Rauner said at his stop in Troy. \u201cAnd No. 2: We\u2019re going to empower local voters to get control of their local government costs and shrink the bureaucracy of the local governments. That frees up money for education. So it\u2019s a two-pronged approach: more state support and more local voter control of their government costs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A handout that accompanied Rauner\u2019s State of the State message says the governor wants to freeze property taxes for two years. During that time, the total amount of property taxes collected by taxing districts would not increase, with few exceptions, such as new construction.\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An individual property owner\u2019s bill would likely remain the same unless, for example, there were an addition or other improvements that pump up the property\u2019s value. Voters could break the freeze if they wanted to increase funds for a local government or school.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, with respect to his \u201ckey No. 1\u201d: \u00a0the state is enough financial trouble just paying its current obligations that it\u2019s hard to see how Rauner can be promising more state money. \u00a0(Most recent headline: \u00a0the state can\u2019t afford to pay its share of a program that provides funds for daycare for poor families. \u00a0Here\u2019s a \u201cfact sheet\u201d<\/a> from an advocacy group because those same headlines didn\u2019t lead to stories with the relevant background.) \u00a0 Yes, it would be a good thing to fund schools from other sources than property taxes, but not if the funds aren\u2019t there in the first place.<\/p>\n

With respect to No. 2: \u00a0this seems to be the key. \u00a0Have voters approve the amount of increase in the budget of each governing body? \u00a0There already are tax caps for schools \u2014 I can\u2019t seem to find the details easily but, from memory, schools cannot increase their overall intake from one year to the next by more than the increase in CPI, with some exceptions, without voter approval. \u00a0Rauner is basically proposing to freeze local budgets, or require that they find additional revenue sources (e.g., local sales taxes). \u00a0Now, are there ways that schools could reduce expenses? \u00a0Certainly. \u00a0Do schools even have a mindset of \u201cspend every available dollar I can collect\u201d? \u00a0Most likely. \u00a0Could the state take a Walker-like approach to helping school districts which are trapped into paying high wages and benefits for teachers, with work rules that further increase costs? \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0(Though \u2013 realistically \u2013 not with a Democratic supermajority in the legislature.) \u00a0 Are there even roadblocks to the local citizenry having input into decision-making, and plenty of cases of corrupt local governments? \u00a0Most certainly.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t put the cart before the horse, and you can\u2019t equally penalize local governments which have been running responsibly just in order to apply a penalty on the corrupt and\/or free-spending ones.<\/p>\n

(By the way: \u00a0I\u2019ll get to the consumption tax, and why I don\u2019t think it would work, or be the right approach if it did, later.)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My fellow Illinoisians will be aware that one of the proposals of new governor Bruce Rauner that\u2019s in the news is his proposal for a two-year freeze in property taxes. Now, as you know, I\u2019m not a fan of property taxes, because they penalize one specific type of consumption (a large home) over others (e.g., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,51],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-property-taxes","tag-school-funding"],"yoast_head":"\nA property tax freeze? 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