In search of political cover (and not finding a lot of it these days), Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago City Council are patching together a plan to cushion the blow of a massive property tax increase.

Chicagoans are confronting their second-installment property tax bills. Prepare for sticker shock. Maybe each envelope should include a shot of bourbon.

The average homeowner's property tax bill is jumping by roughly 13 percent, though there can be wide swings in either direction. A homeowner whose property has a market value of $225,000 will see his or her bill increase by more than $400. Ouch. In areas of the city where property values have climbed steeply — Gold Coast, South Loop, Streeterville — some property owners could get socked with an additional $5,000 in taxes. Ouch and ouch.

The city's failure to adequately pay into retiree pension funds, coupled with an Illinois Supreme Court ruling that locks in pension promises at their current levels, left the city few options. Last fall, Emanuel and the aldermen passed the largest property tax increase in the city's modern history.

The biggest hit comes this year, followed by additional increases in following years. The total tax increase gradually climbs to $543 million a year by 2019.

All of that money will go to the police and firefighter pension funds. City leaders still have to figure out how to shore up the pension funds for teachers, municipal workers and laborers. Again, the options are limited.

The steep property tax increase is a political problem unto itself. But there's another one: When Emanuel proposed the tax increase, he vowed to protect homeowners whose properties are worth less than $250,000 by doubling their homestead exemption.

You can kiss that promise goodbye. Emanuel's plan would have required the General Assembly to pass a bill and Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign it. Lawmakers didn't send it, and Rauner had indicated he would likely veto it anyway. He wanted Emanuel to include money-saving reforms to city government before raising taxes.

So now the city is working on Plan B, a so-called rebate. Under four options being considered so far, low-income homeowners would qualify for one-time rebates averaging $100 to $254, according to an analysis from the mayor's office.

That might sound like compassionate government, but it's a ruse. The rebates would just take from one pocket to stuff a few dollars in the other. Under the various proposals, the rebates would total $10 million to $50 million, plus the cost of administering the program, which would likely be outsourced.

But the city can't just reduce its contribution to the pensions and rebate that money. It would have to find the money elsewhere in the budget, either by cutting operating costs or levying a new tax or fee to make up those dollars. All that to shell out what amounts to a consolation prize: a rebate of a few bucks to ameliorate that whopping tax increase.

Tax rebates are gimmicky. Look, here's some money back! A responsible government doesn't collect taxes and then give back the change. And there isn't any change, anyway.

In fact, there's likely another tax increase on the way. The state budget deal cut Thursday in Springfield threatens Chicagoans with another $250 million property tax increase, this one to help cover contributions to Chicago Public Schools pensions.

City Hall and CPS (and other Illinois governments) wouldn't have to rescue pension funds with massive property tax increases if, during the past decade, they had reduced costs, negotiated more reasonable agreements with organized labor and gotten a handle on runaway pension obligations. They didn't.

Taxpayers aren't fools. A token rebate isn't going to make them forgive and forget. Thanks for the booby prize, but we'll pass.

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