Well, appealing three years in a row is clearly abusing the system.

The big problem though is then complaining about the financial situation in the state while you actively doing anything legally possible to pay less in taxes.

Now, if Denis comes in and says that if he was selling his house today and he would list it for the value he fought for then I'll take it back. I'm highly suspicious that his house is worth 30% less than his neighbors.

Well, appealing three years in a row is clearly abusing the system..

I meant "afford it" as in can afford to pay the tax on their home that matches up with their actual property value.

Trumpet!

What about people that bought a house years ago that was well within their means, but now have seen the property tax escalation raise their escrow exponentially, to the point where the mortgage is now near double?

Those are the kind of people should be appealing.

I'm not against appealing. Go read the tone of denis' first post. He knows that his house is undervalued in their calculations and did it just because he wanted to pay less money which even then I'm not against that on it's own. Just don't be surprised that the state is in a bad financial situation to the point where you are actively planning how you can leave the state when guys who make a decent living use the system to pay below what they should simply because they can.

I meant "afford it" as in can afford to pay the tax on their home that matches up with their actual property value.

To be clear, you are advocating a Bernie Sanders level of socialism here....

The Assessor determines the market value. Are you going to assume that a government bureaucrat will accurately assess each of the tens of thousands of parcels each year (or once every three years in the case of Cook County)?

Zillow, a private company whose reason for existence is to evaluate home values was just sued because they so rarely are correct.

Those are the kind of people should be appealing.

I'm not against appealing. Go read the tone of denis' first post. He knows that his house is undervalued in their calculations and did it just because he wanted to pay less money which even then I'm not against that on it's own. Just don't be surprised that the state is in a bad financial situation to the point where you are actively planning how you can leave the state when guys who make a decent living use the system to pay below what they should simply because they can.

What denis, a laymen, knows about the valuation of property could is irrelevant and most likely incorrect. He had evidence, most likely in the form of a professional appraisal or comparable situated properties in his neighborhood, that showed the home was overvalued.

If he keeps winning appeals than that means the state keeps acknowledging they fucked up. And you're mad at Denis for bringing that fuckup to their attention and getting it rectified? This whole conversation is absurd.

When FF and I actually agree on something. Odds are, you are wrong.

He told us his house is valued at 30% less than what the comparable situated properties are. I understand he won his appeal but that could be for many different reasons.

There it is. Two "You're wrong" posts with nothing else. My work is done.

If one person lowers their property tax, its not actually shorting any money to the county. When the county determines your assessed property value, you are assigned that % of county debt. So when d-man lowers his equivalent value by $3000, that money is made up by redistributing that money across his neighborhood.

Sounds like denis and his subdivision don't want to pay their fair share.

SAD!

Exactly. And I told all my neighbors to do the same. The levy doesn't change.