Illinoisans suffer as property tax bills grow far faster than household incomes, home values FROM WIREPOINTS

[carol ann parisi]

Illinoisans suffer as property tax bills grow far faster than household incomes, home values Gov. J.B. Pritzker promised in 2020 that a blue ribbon task force he was creating would reform and lower Illinois property taxes. “Property taxes in Illinois are simply too high. That’s why it’s time to put the best ideas to work from both sides of the aisle. Local governments continue to max out their levies even when they don’t need to. There are perverse incentives in state law that encourage that. We can change the law to support local governments and lower property taxes.” The commission turned out to be a flop. After blowing past its initial due date, the committee delivered no real solutions or even a final report. Pritzker's commitment to lower taxes turned out to be the same failed promise Illinoisans have been hearing for decades. Illinois property taxes remain punitive, any way you cut them. Over the last 30 years, the average residential property tax bill has grown far faster than median household incomes. Tax bills are up 268 percent over the entire period, while incomes are up just 127 percent. As a result, today the average property tax bill eats up 5.9 percent of an Illinoisan’s household income. In 1990, the average tax bill consumed just 3.6 percent. Under a second measure – as a percentage of home values – the property taxes Illinoisans pay are now the highest in the country. ATTOM Data Solutions calculated Illinois’ effective tax rate as 1.86 percent in 2021, more than double what residents in Missouri (0.86%) and Indiana (0.77%) pay and triple what Kentuckians (0.64%) pay. And as for their impact on house prices, property taxes have contributed to Illinoisans suffering the nation’s third-worst growth in home values over the last 20 years, up just 3 percent (adjusted for inflation). If all that doesn't make a case for reforming the cost drivers of Illinois’ property tax crisis – from pensions to public sector collective bargaining laws to education spending – then nothing does.  Pension reform, starting with a constitutional amendment to the state’s pension protection clause, collective bargaining reforms, K-12 finance reform, and local government consolidation are the only ways to structurally and permanently reduce Illinoisans’ property tax bills. The November elections are approaching fast. Are your candidates openly supporting those reforms?  No one has been spared the increasing pain of property taxes. We ran the county-by-county numbers to see how bad taxes have gotten. To see how your county ranks, click here. Read Wirepoints' full report and share it with others so they can see how much more painful property taxes have become.