Put school costs on those who use them

I thought the recent explanation about the property tax freeze in the Herald was useful, but it seemed to skirt around the inherent unfairness of how high property taxes are in Illinois towns. It did not get into the details of how much of the property taxes are broken down by school districts and for community colleges. It is particularly unfair that seniors pay such high taxes for schools, when they have already paid for their children’s public school and college education and continue to pay school taxes for decades beyond what is necessary.

We should scale back and eliminate taxation on seniors for public schools unless they are the legal guardians of children who are enrolled in the schools. The following taxation reductions should be enacted to help preserve our seniors’ limited incomes in Arlington Heights and the underlying townships:

Age 65: school property taxes are reduced by 10 percent

Age 70: 15 percent

Age 75: 25 percent

Age 80: 50 percent

Age 85: 75 percent

Age 90: 100 percent — zero school property taxes

Put the cost of school tax on those who use them, charge tuition to cover most of the cost, and let’s stop covering the children of foreign nationals who do not pay any property taxes. They can pay 100 percent tuition.

Harold Knudsen

Arlington Heights