Talk about a landslide.

Last week I shared a reader’s proposals to limit school districts’ ability to levy property taxes on older Illinoisans. The response was swift and nearly unanimous. A sampling:

Lemont: “It has long been the principle that an educated citizenry benefits the entire community, hence even businesses, who obviously have no children in school, but hire graduates of those schools, pay taxes that support public schools. Further, this shows the viewpoint difference between that of an individual and that of a community.”

Channahon: “They got the benefit of their family using schools funded by other people’s tax dollars. But now that their kids no longer use public schools, they don’t want to contribute toward the education of the next generation. By that logic, there shouldn’t be publicly funded schools at all, just make the people who use the schools pay tuition. …

“By the way, I’m 69 and my kids have been out of public schools for over 20 years, but I am happy to fund the schools for future generations. Society is much better off with a good education system. That being said, I have written to you previously with my thoughts on revamping public school funding by switching from local property taxes to state income taxes. I don’t dispute that the current property tax system in Illinois is a mess. But wherever the taxes come from, it is essential to have publicly supported schools.”

Crystal Lake: “Do you have grandchildren in public school? If so, don’t you want a robust tax base for the schools? …

“Have you taken a look at a local police officer, firefighter or medical service provider? Young, right? Probably a fairly recent graduate from public school somewhere? Don’t you want a good education for the person who is going to catch bad guys for you, put out the fire in your house and give you your vaccinations?

“Are you receiving Medicare and Social Security? Don’t you want well-educated, well-paid younger people paying into those systems? Isn’t that worth something to you? …

“OUR children are a public good. Everybody benefits from a quality upcoming generation, whether their kids are grown, whether they have grandchildren, whether they had children at all. As a public good, they should be publicly financed through taxes, just like we do with streets and sanitation and public safety. We can and should have conversations about how high the taxes are, what type they should be, and what if any relief there should be [as there definitely is in Illinois today] for older folks. But there is no good argument in favor of letting taxpayers off the hook just because they don’t have kids in school anymore.”

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.