Ben Franklin as soon as mentioned loss of life and taxes are inevitable, however he by no means mentioned it is inevitable to be taxed to loss of life – particularly by Illinois’ sophisticated and unfair property tax system with its bewildering array of phrases, guidelines and deadlines designed to be complicated and intimidating to the typical property taxpayer.
Illinois has the second-highest property taxes within the nation. The standard Illinois house owner paid about $5,055 in property taxes in 2022, greater than double the everyday American house owner’s invoice of $2,547, in keeping with the latest census information from 2022.
The Illinois property tax system just isn’t primarily based on skill to pay and locations a regressive tax burden on on a regular basis individuals who stay from paycheck to paycheck. Consequently, Illinois’ extreme reliance on property taxes makes our tax code one of many 10 most unfair codes within the nation.
It is time for Illinois’ 3,077,768 residential property taxpayers to take cost and reform our state’s upside-down tax code to offer assured annual property tax aid to tens of millions of Illinoisans who’re struggling to remain of their homes.
This November marks the primary time ever that Illinois voters may have a direct referendum alternative on the poll field to demand obligatory property tax aid. Earlier this yr, the Illinois Property Tax Reduction Modification Referendum was positioned on the poll as a statewide advisory referendum by the Illinois Basic Meeting.
The referendum asks: “Ought to the Illinois Structure be amended to create a further 3% tax on earnings larger than $1,000,000 for the aim of dedicating funds raised to property tax aid?” By voting sure, Illinois voters will name for passage of the most important property tax aid measure in state historical past.
In keeping with the latest information, Illinois has 77,323 millionaires whose annual earnings tax returns exceed greater than $1 million in adjusted gross earnings. These millionaires account for just one.2% of Illinois’ 6,286,664 earnings taxpayers however convey in additional than 20% of our state’s particular person earnings. Yr after yr, the highest 1% absorb a rising proportion of the state’s complete particular person earnings.
A 3% surcharge on this millionaire earnings would fund a minimum of $1.5 billion in annual property tax refunds for distribution to greater than 3 million Illinois residential property taxpayers. Certainly, a latest millionaire surcharge in Massachusetts enacted by voter initiative and referendum has generated much more income for that state’s treasury than estimated.
Homeownership and home-buying are important to the Illinois financial system, particularly with as we speak’s challenges to the price of residing. Once I served as Illinois governor a decade in the past in 2014, I proposed a tax reform plan to offer each Illinois house owner an annual property tax refund of a minimum of $500, a refund that may be substantial, everlasting and adjusted to inflation.
The Basic Meeting didn’t act on my property tax aid proposal again then, however in 2021 handed laws making a particular fund within the state treasury known as the Illinois Property Tax Reduction Fund. Underneath the legislation, monies within the fund could also be utilized by the state comptroller to pay rebates to residential Illinois property taxpayers eligible for the homestead exemption.
Thus, with the hopeful passage of the Illinois Property Tax Reduction Modification, an environment friendly mechanism already exists in state authorities to ship annual and everlasting tax aid to the three,077,768 Illinois households eligible for residential homestead exemptions.
As well as, 29 states together with Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota have circuit breaker choices for modest earnings and senior property taxpayers. Circuit breakers forestall householders from being “overloaded” by their property tax payments by rebating property taxes paid over a specific amount of their earnings.
The Illinois Property Tax Reduction Modification can present funding for each annual property tax refunds and circuit breaker choices for Illinois’ 3 million residential property taxpayers. However this property tax aid will solely include sturdy taxpayer organizing to cross the property tax aid referendum this November.
In the midst of my public life, I’ve organized voter referendum campaigns which have enacted essential and overdue reforms, together with the Cutback Modification that lowered the dimensions of the Illinois legislature in 1980, the Citizen Utility Board (CUB) referendums to tackle utilities on behalf of shoppers in 1983 and the Recall Modification for gubernatorial recall in 2010. Every time it was the ability of voter referendum that broke by legislative gridlock to get the job achieved for Illinois voters.
For many years, the Illinois property tax legislation has violated the biblical precept that taxes must be primarily based on skill to pay. This November, we the folks of Illinois have the ability to make use of voter referendum to construct a taxpayer motion that reforms Illinois’ unfair property tax code in a significant manner. Anybody fascinated with serving to the trigger ought to go to IllinoisPropertyTaxReliefNow.org.
Pat Quinn served as Illinois’ forty first governor from 2009-2015. As a county tax enchantment commissioner from 1982-1986, he determined 150,000 property tax evaluation appeals. He taught property tax legislation at Chicago Kent Legislation College for twenty-four years.
