Illinois lawmaker seeks to abolish townships to lower taxes

[TexasTowelie]

CHICAGO (AP) — A state lawmaker says Illinois needs to consolidate some of its roughly 7,000 units of government to reduce local property taxes, and he thinks eliminating townships would be a good start.

Republican state Rep. David McSweeney of Barrington Hills is sponsoring a bill to make it easier to mount township abolition campaigns in McHenry County, the Chicago Tribune reported. He said "the reason property taxes are so high in Illinois, is because we have 7,000 units of government."

"The only way we're going to reduce property taxes is to consolidate local governments," McSweeney said. "Townships are just a start."

Illinois has more than 1,400 townships and more units of government than any other state.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/state-and-regional/illinois/illinois-lawmaker-seeks-to-abolish-townships-to-lower-taxes/article_bc2e4d65-8785-58b9-911b-95f5fe1b8a0d.html

[davsand]

1. Those 7000 units of government include drainage districts.

As well as school districts, fire protection districts, road and bridge funds, park districts... Take a look at your tax bill and see how many taxing bodies you pay taxes to. Townships are NOT the biggest portion of your bill--not by a long shot.

If they are serious about property tax relief all they gotta do is legalize pot and tax it. Forbes reported just a week or so ago that Nevada made over 30 million in taxes in the first 6 months after legalization--and that was during the rollout--before all the shops got opened. If you project that out for a few years, coupled with sales tax and hotel tax revenue from pot tourism from neighboring states who come to purchase, and you are talking a hefty cash influx. Apply even a portion of the tax revenue from pot sales to school funding and they can roll back the amounts schools ask for every year without cutting school funding...

Republicans are lying assholes when they say we have to eliminate township government.


Laura