The first property tax installment is due March 1, so many people have property taxes on their minds. A big topic is the Palos Hills property tax portion of the bill. Eyes grow wide when I mention that the property taxes noted on the bill are only a fraction of what Palos Hills residents really pay every year.
Throughout the years, the Mayor Jerry Bennett has managed to add a municipal tax to every utility bill. If you look at your Commonwealth Edison bill, this is called the Municipal Tax. On your Nicor bill, it’s the Municipal Utility Tax. It’s the Palos Hills MTT on your Verizon bill.
Most people probably don’t even realize they pay these taxes. As with most things, there was a big uproar when the taxes were introduced and then people just accepted that their opinions were ignored and they had to pay it. I doubt the people who moved into Palos Hills even question why they pay these taxes.
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These utility taxes are known as regressive taxes in public policy. Dictionary.com defines a regressive tax as “a tax that takes a higher percentage of low incomes than high ones. Sales taxes, especially on food, clothing, medicine, and other basic necessities are widely cited as examples of regressive taxes.”
If you’re in the lower income bracket, say a senior citizen living on a fixed income, you can opt for the “senior exemption” or protest your property taxes, thus lowering your overall tax bill. There’s no way for a senior living on a fixed income to opt out of these utility taxes.
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In our house we pay about $25 per month for these Palos Hills utililty taxes. This amounts to about $300 per year, which is in addition to the money we’ll pay for our property tax bill. And, let’s not forget that we pay a capital improvement tax on each City of Palos Hills water bill, which adds about $100 a year to our overall tax burden. We live in a very average house, so if we pay about $400 in stealth taxes over above our property taxes I have to believe most families do as well.
The next time an elected official talks about how low our Palos Hills property taxes are in comparison to neighboring towns, remember the additional taxes Mayor Bennett collects on all your utilities. If you haven't looked at your utility bills lately, make a note to do so next month. Each amount is small, but when added together it’s an additional burden taxpayers must bear.
