Chicagoans erupt in ‘bill-burning’ protest after taxes soar 98%. How to invest in real estate without getting scorched

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What would you bash if your spot taxes abruptly accrued 98% oregon more?

That’s the question immoderate homeowners successful Chicago’s South and West Side are asking aft a caller measure led to an mean 98% summation connected their spot taxes, with immoderate neighborhoods seeing a 130% spike.

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Many who received the tremendous bills felt they needed to bash thing astir it.

Richard Townsell of North Lawndale saw a 75.86% increase, helium told CBC News Chicago (1). His person received a measure with a 237% increase. In Cook County, spot taxes request to beryllium paid by Dec. 15 (2).

After sitting down with his woman to sermon cancelling their abrogation successful bid to wage this astonishment bill, helium felt it was clip to instrumentality action.

Townsell decided to signifier a symbolic “bill burning” ceremonial inspired by the Boston Tea Party — a important infinitesimal during the American Revolution erstwhile American colonists successful Boston dumped 340 chests of beverage into the water to protestation paying taxation connected the beverage to the British government, portion not being represented successful British parliament (3).

The thought of taxation without practice was cardinal to the Tea Party protests, and helium felt thing akin happening successful Chicago.

The abrupt taxation hike, it turns out, was due to the fact that truthful galore downtown Chicago buildings are near empty, according to County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

“All these precocious rises, commercialized buildings that you spot downtown are unrented due to the fact that the businesses person near the metropolis — truthful idiosyncratic had to prime it up,” Pappas told CBS News. “So the residents are picking it up.”

As an enforcement manager astatine the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, Townsell wanted to bash much than “just whine astir it.” So, helium gathered the assemblage unneurotic to publically pain their spot taxation bills — drafting media attraction to the contented of homeowners successful neighborhoods good extracurricular the downtown halfway footing the measure for each these bare commercialized buildings.

Their adjacent measurement mightiness see pushing for a 2% headdress connected spot taxation increases, akin to California’s Proposition 13, which came into instrumentality successful 1978 arsenic a nonstop effect of rapidly rising spot taxes (3).