Better explanations on taxes needed

If you live in Cook County, you have just received your real estate tax bill. More than likely, it is up by about 10 percent. If you analyze it, you will see that the “state equalization factor” is actually down by 10 percent. It went from 3.3 to 3.0. That should have lowered your tax bill by the same percentage. Kiss that goodbye because the average taxing body increase was 10 percent negating the decrease.

So then why did the tax bill go up by 10 percent? Well, you see, someone decided to reduce the “homeowner’s exemption” by more than 50 percent from last year. This change was not stated in any news media that I came across whether it be TV, radio, Internet or even this newspaper. I would like to know who specifically initiated this and who sanctioned it. This tax rate change is akin to what happened a year or two ago on the first installment. We were all billed 55 percent of the previous year’s bill instead of the previous 50 percent. Again, this change was not reported by any news organization until after the bills were delivered.

I am concerned that news organizations are guilty of incomplete reporting. They are all good at filling up a page or filling in the allotted time. But they fall short on educating and informing the public.

Joe Lichtenbert

Hoffman Estates