Murphy only mention in Washington Post story

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza ended this morning's post about Lisa Madigan's decision to run for AG by commenting about its impact on the gubernatorial race. Wrote Cilliza:

For Quinn, Madigan's decision gives him a surprisingly clear path to a full term in 2010. National Republicans insist they will make a major push against Quinn despite the strongly Democratic lean of the state. State Sen. Matt Murphy has already declared his candidacy and others may follow, according to GOP sources.

Interesting that only Murphy was mentioned...by "GOP sources"?

Comments

[David Jenkins]

Matt Murphy cuts too many deals with Democrats, and sells out on important conservative fiscal issues. HB0664, co-sponsored by Matt Murphy in the 95th G.A. is a good example. He decided that it was okay, for reasons I have yet to discover, to allow the Democrats to torch the housing market in Cook County by removing a cap on property taxes (and, hence, a cap on ridiculous Cook County government waste). And because of this move, my property taxes went up 50% last year. And my neighbor across the street ended up foreclosing because of his tax increase. No one can afford these taxes, and the foreclosure-run is bigger than it's ever been.

Thanks Murphy!!!

[Get really real]

Jenkins,
You're pathetic. You've invaded Illinois Review and are running wild with ridiculous accusations. Please take a step back if you want anyone to take you seriously.

[David Jenkins]

Wow. You don't attack what I say, just me.

So you're saying that he did not co-sponsor HB0664 (95th G.A.)...?

Or are you saying that said bill did not lift a cap on property taxes?

[David Jenkins]

By the way, free speech is not an invasion. It's my right, and a civic duty.

[Better Ideas]

I don't know if he voted for or against. But if you put Tax and Cap in the same sentence it must be good, right? The property tax burden increase is due to overspending and corruption. Do some reading on the subject and see that the tax burden was getting shifted unfairly to suburban cook county by implementing this policy.

http://www.revenue.state.il.us/IGPA_executive.pdf

[Better Ideas]

http://tax.illinois.gov/IGPA_Fact_Sheet.pdf

"Tax rates were higher than they would have been without the EHEA, in the first year by 4.1 percent in Chicago, 6.6 percent in the North Suburbs, and 5.8 percent in the South Suburbs".

Too many politicians were afraid that being against a "tax cap" would be misconstrued by the voters. You have proven their lack of faith correct. And the dems get richer.

[Seven7]

i don't think murphy is going anywhere with his campaign. we've heard from every other republican as to their plans (dillard, schillerstrom, brady, andrejewski, birkett, etc.).

from murphy? silence.

i've heard that he has a bunch of young and college republicans running his campaign. is this the sign of a serious candidate? doesn't sound like it to me. more like a hollow promise.

that's unfortunate, since i and many others were excited about a murphy candidacy.

it's just not meant to be.

[David Jenkins]

Dear "Better Ideas",

You obviously know more about this issue than most people, and I thank you for getting to learn more about property taxes in Illinois.

Frankly, I don't think that the 7% solution was ever a good idea because it doesn't address the problem. And your point about tax rates going up is absolutely correct. In fact, what the Illinois cap did was shift around resources so that the state of Illinois covers the cost of rampant Cook County government rather than to address the issue: which is that we need less government, and hence, less spending.

But ripping the cap off like a band-aid was an even worse idea. Because the combination of state equalization factor and assessments were driven sky-high by a system that subsidized government costs that were never meant to be paid by the average homeowner. So when HB0664 (95th G.A.) was passed, it created the biggest foreclosure train wreck in Illinois history.

But the worst part of this bill has not yet been phased-in to the larger public. This (Fall) and next, thousands of people in Cook County will walk away from their homes, I believe, when they see the true cost of their tax bills that Illinois was previously subsidizing.

I'm only complaining about it as much as I am, because I'm part of the strategic population that was dealt the initial blow. Because HB0664 phases-in populations based on home-purchasing year, one year at a time, alot of the homeowners don't realize that they are going to have the same sticker-shock when they open open their tax bills this year, next year, and the following year.

And the increases will be so high, that many of them will walk away from their homes.

[Better Ideas]

David, thank you for your response. Your points are well taken, unfortunately I could not locate the bill itself, so much of my response deals simply with the issue of the 7% tax cap.

Taxpayers should focus in on the true cause of what is driving up taxes. 1) Bloated budgets, huge staffs, and politicians that will not make the hard choices. Instead of cutting expenditures and balancing a budget, budgets are passed with consistent increases. Assets are sold off and bonds are approved thus creating larger interest expenses for our government.

In the end whatever costs are approved will all get paid for and the 7% cap has never done anything to tighten the purse strings, only to reallocate who carries the burden of property taxes.

Until the Republican party properly makes this case, and the voters are willing to take a hard look at an alternative to the democrats, we will all continue to see our taxes rise, even as home values go down.

[David Jenkins]

Hi "Better Ideas",

You won't find that bill online because the House removed it. I had to submit FOIA requests to the House Clerk to get it. If you give me your email address, I can send it to you. Mine is crookedcountyillinois@yahoo.com.

You're absolutely right about the 7% cap. It didn't actually address the problem of government spending. It just shifted the problem around; where the state picked-up the tab for expenditures that aren't the state's responsibility.

The problem with HB0664 (95th G.A.), is that it was actually a whole new piece of legislation that, like most public acts, introduces new pieces of law, amends current statutes, and even phases-out, or removes statutes. So it's a whole new monster altogether, not just the end of a "cap", but an additional redistribution of wealth, with a whole new set of circumstances that, frankly, most of our elected officials didn't even take the time to understand before they voted for it.

So what's the problem? Our elected officials (i.e. Murphy) decided it was okay to exempt everyone for the tax year of 2008, except a small minority of homeowners who bought in 2005 and 2006. This creates a problem because those individuals had to bear an extremely large burden of taxation that didn't affect any of their neighbors, who were exempted. And it was the same population of people who had bought at the peak of the real estate market.

It gets even more complicated, but I'll spare you the details. In my case, I bought a home for $230,000, that is now worth $150,000. Despite the fact that there was no change in assessment, my taxes still went up 45%. Why? Because all of the extra taxes had to go somewhere. And they fell on me because the law, subjectively, does not exempt those who bought in 2006; which is the year I bought my home.

But it gets even better. What the General Assembly did in HB0664, is gave maximum discretion to the Cook County Assessor's Office and the Board of Review. They're the only ones who can really interpet, or apply it. And alot of attorneys don't agree with their interpretations.

But it doesn't matter, because they will only allow you to appeal the assessments, which do very little to lower your tax bill. For example, 35 ILCS 200/16-70:

"Determination of exemptions. The board of review shall hear and determine the application of any person who is assessed on property claimed to be exempt from taxation. However, the decision of the board shall not be final, except as to homestead exemptions."

Or 35 ILCS 200/16-130:

"Exemption procedures; board of appeals; board of review. Whenever the board of appeals (until the first Monday in December 1998 and the board of review beginning the first Monday in December 1998 and thereafter) in any county with 3,000,000 or more inhabitants determines that any property is or is not exempt from taxation, the decision of the board shall not be final, except as to homestead exemptions."

Why is this important? Because the BOR has the statutory authority to dramatically reduce the size of Cook County government by adjudicating the homeowner's exemption on your tax bill; which would, in turn, allow everyone to ask for a higher exemption. So if you replace the Assessor and the three BOR Commissioners, you essentially destroy the major revenue stream of the Democratic Machine.

And, remember, it wasn't Murphy who told you. It was some angry homeowner on the Internet.

Cordially,

David

[Better Ideas]

David, Thanks for some more info. I know anything that Houlihan is pushing is bad for the tax payers. Fairness gets thrown out of the equation when there a groups to appease.

[David Jenkins]

J. Houlihan, Berrios, Larry Rogers, Jr., B. Houlihan - they're all tax-and-spend big-government Democrats.

And that's the foundation of the property tax revenue stream in Illinois.

Those positions are far more powerful than any Illinois House or Senate position. Why else would Houlihan have 3/4 of a cool million dollars sitting in his committee funds right now?