Government debt can be tied to the costs associated with your own individual home or business, and can be behind rising property taxes.

While most politicians don't want to talk about this touchy subject, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas isn't so shy. Her office has developed a new tool to calculate the debt attached to your property.

"There needs to be something done about the high property taxes system, or going to have this continued exit from Illinois, this continued exit from the city, this continued exit from the suburbs," Pappas said.

Watch the video.