Cook County’s first property tax payments are due March 2. In Chicago, property taxes have grown more than 3 times faster than inflation for 20 years.

Illinois needed federal aid far more than other states because of pension crisis inaction, as well as an irresponsible pandemic budget. Bailouts won’t protect taxpayers or services for vulnerable Illinoisans, but reforms can.

The nation’s second-highest property taxes could come down if Illinois cut school bureaucracy and reformed public pensions. Until they do, fixing the housing stock is a tough sell.

A new report from government finance watchdog Truth in Accounting gave the Windy City an “F” for financial health. Chicago’s massive $36 billion net debt stems primarily from pensions.

Decades of institutionalized financial mismanagement left Illinois with the nation’s worst fiscal health. Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has been at the center of nearly every bad decision along the way.

Anyone betting those lottery tickets they gifted will help education would lose.