Cook County needs a simpler tax code
Why are we taxpayers so dumb? Why do we allow those whom we have elected to confuse us with tax codes, multipliers, exemptions and appeals processes that only they seem to understand? It is hard to understand how my real estate taxes could rise by 8 percent when the value of my home has fallen since 2008 by 30 percent!
Why does this happen? Because Cook County maintains a real estate tax structure that is so complicated and convoluted that it keeps a legion of lawyers, politicians and accountants employed in a never-ending process that is self-perpetuating and self-serving.
The method for taxing property should be pretty straight forward. Establish a tax based on a fixed percentage (1 or 2 percent) of the value of a home based on its purchase price. Stop trying to estimate the value of a home until it is sold. The fair method of taxing a home above its cost is based on the real value at the time a profit is made. In other words, go ahead and assess a tax on the actual profit made at the time it is sold when the seller has the cash to pay the tax.
This will never happen until all those currently in office who do not endorse simplifying our tax structure are removed from their positions. In other words, it will never happen.
Steve Partman
Elk Grove Village