Stop doing this, please
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Narrowing the tax base is just not a good idea. All this will do is drive up property taxes for everyone else and further lock out younger people trying to buy a home…
A bill filed at the Illinois Statehouse seeks to end property taxes for qualified taxpayers who live in and pay taxes on a residential home for at least 30 years.
State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, said at some point, you have to own your own property.
“This country is founded upon freedom and property rights and at some point, you have to be able to own your property,” said Anderson. “This [bill] is a way to keep people in Illinois. If they own a home for 20 years and they have an option of moving to another state because they’re tired of being taxed in Illinois, now all of a sudden, maybe [with the passage of this bill], they hang out another 10 years and now they don’t have to pay property tax. That keeps them in the state and buying goods in the state and paying taxes in a different way.”
- DuPage Dad - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:19 am:
Minor quibble, but The Center Square included bad reporting. Fourth paragraph was this claim, “Illinois lost 32,826 residents from July 2022 to July 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That was the 10th consecutive year of population loss for the state.”
Actual population estimates show Illinois’ population increasing by +20,438 between July 1, 2022 and July 1, 2023. What’s more, there’s a whole new year of information they could have cited, which showed Illinois’ population growing by an estimated +67,899 between July 1, 2023 and July 1, 2024.
Where are the factcheckers?
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/population-estimates-international-migration.html
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-state-total.html
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/illinois-population-grows-in-2024-census-bureau-data-says/3628887/
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:32 am:
@DuPage Dad: Where are the factcheckers?
Forget it, DuPage Dad. It’s Center Square.
- City Zen - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:35 am:
== end property taxes for qualified taxpayers who live in and pay taxes on a residential home for at least 30 years.==
Why do we keep giving tax exemptions to the same segment of the population?
Seniors in Cook County already get a special property tax exemption. Some qualify for a freeze. There’s also a long-term homeowner exemption. And if they’re retired, they’re not paying state income tax on their retirement income. Enough.
- Captain Obvious - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:42 am:
This is a great idea. Wholeheartedly support it. Have some compassion for people who paid through the nose for 30 years and then struggle to pay the inflated property taxes after they retire. Put the greatest burden on those who suck up the most resources sending their kids to the schools who get the lion’s share of tax revenue.
- Montrose - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:45 am:
It’s a bad idea generally, but building on City Zen’s point, if the concerns is the loss of population, why would we focus on trying to keep around people who are done contributing to the workforce?
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:58 am:
“end property taxes for qualified taxpayers who live in and pay taxes on a residential home for at least 30 years.”
Given that many young people have already, and will continue to, leave rural areas. Most of the remaining population is older and would meet this ‘qualification’. Places to the west of Rockford, and down by Paducah are some of the oldest average age areas in the state. 55 is the average age in some counties, compared to the median in the state of 38.
The budget hole that would be blown in most small towns by this proposal would all but guarantee dozens of towns turning into ghost towns.
Senior/Veteran tax freezes are already a driving force of higher property taxes for everyone else. This would turn that problem up to 11.
- Lincoln Lad - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 9:59 am:
Having paid DuPage County property taxes for over 30 years, I think there is something here. One bit of additional info - for over a decade I’ve watched neighboring homes be torn down and replaced with homes with tax levees of 3-4 times the homes they replaced. Perhaps not this bill, but something that takes into consideration longevity of ownership and changing real estate dynamics within individual communities.
- Steve - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:00 am:
- All this will do is drive up property taxes for everyone else -
A very true statement. It’s easy to propose this kind of stuff instead of cutting spending. Illinois does have real problems that many want future elected politicians to deal with.
- StarLineChicago - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:02 am:
Homeowners don’t magically stop using local police or fire protection once they’ve been in the house for 30 years and one day, and the graduates of their local school district are the people stocking the shelves at their local grocery store, serving them at their restaurants, helping them at their library, sharing their streets, and generally keeping their communities safe and livable.
If property taxes are what encourage an empty-nester couple to trade in their four-bedroom house for a single-level condo and now a young family who needs more space and wants to plant roots now has an affordable place to do so, that’s a net benefit for everyone.
- Just Me 2 - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:05 am:
He would be better to address the root cause of high property taxes instead of being lazy and just addressing a symptom.
However, I suspect the real motivation is media attention and a talking point.
- Juice - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:14 am:
“This country is founded upon freedom and property rights and at some point, you have to be able to own your property,”
Uh, Senator, we have also had property taxes in the country since even before we were a country. And I suspect that was long before the 30 year mortgage existed.
- hmmm - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:18 am:
==Why do we keep giving tax exemptions to the same segment of the population?==
Seniors vote the most, and it’s all about making sure they vote for the guy who tries to give them the most stuff
- jackmac - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:19 am:
We’ve owned our home for 32 years, raised our family and love our community. While property taxes in our area are quite high (and who really likes to pay taxes), we benefit from a safe and stable region. We also benefited from taxes for our schools paid by earlier homeowners and businesses. Our kids received an excellent education and the least we can do is pay forward and contribute to education and services for today’s kids.
- Tequila Mockingbird - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:24 am:
Property taxes are too high in Illinois. Too high for everyone. Its a problem for some folks when they retire if they have not planned for it and then throw inflation on top of it. The small rural towns are already dead or dying and the only young people that stay are the ones with no skills just scraping by or on welfare.
- Suburban Dad - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:25 am:
Would the good Senator / Fire Fighter (so 2 taxpayer funded pensions) be willing to forfeit his annual pension increases the taxpayers on the hook after a certain age?
- Center Drift - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:39 am:
The issue isn’t the idea of property tax it’s the issue of never ending increases that are tied to a fictional value of your property. This allows taxing authorities to continually raise rates. The reality is that your property value should be based on the last documented sale price with a rider for a local COL to be applied every 5 years. It should not be based on some pie in the sky amount an appraiser thinks it’s worth. All government then needs to learn to live within the revenue available and that includes government unions. No one should be taxed out of their home.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:40 am:
= to pay the inflated property taxes after they retire.=
LOL, can we then pass a law to freeze the value of their home at the time property taxes cease? They must then sell the home for that price. Crazy, right? SO is the idea that property taxes are inflated. They are based on the value of the home, so by your logic home prices are inflated.
Taxes pay for things. Property taxes keep that money local rather than letting Springfield have it. Property taxes provide tangible services. If you don’t like the quality run for office and fix that issue.
- ModerateGOP - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 10:45 am:
We should be having a serious conversation about the number of units of local government that Illinois has. More than any other state in the country. Consolidation is easier said than done but if we ever want to get our property tax situation more in line with other states, lets start the conversation about the number of local taxing bodies. Illinois at least 2,000 more than California does.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:00 am:
Property taxes, to simplify things, consist of two components: (1) local municipal taxes to support police, fire, roads, etc. and (2) school districts.
The school district portion typically runs 65% to 75% of the total. If you wanted to provide a level of relief, exempt long term owners (30 years?) from the school tax, and figure a way for the State to backfill that loss. By doing so, the townships / municipalities will retain the funds needed to perform their services.
- Louis XVI - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:21 am:
European countries, such as Britain, France, Italy etc put the over burden of property taxes on the property transfer tax where the annual amount paid is relatively negligible, allowing retirees to live in their home without the financial worry - the problem that Anderson is attempting to solve. Income taxes are higher than those in US to pay for education, for example. Europeans have their problems, but homeowner property taxes are not among them.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:25 am:
==If you wanted to provide a level of relief, exempt long term owners (30 years?) from the school tax, and figure a way for the State to backfill that loss.==
Seriously? The schools educate the folks who will be caring for and working for those older folks. The education system is not day care; it prepares students for every career and, as such, is an important economic driver and economic support.
- Homebody - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:29 am:
There are just way too many people that just fundamentally don’t understand what it means to live as part of a larger, integrated society. I’m a single person with no car. My taxes pay for roads and schools. I benefit from living in a society with functional infrastructure and educated neighbors.
So many of the anti-tax cranks either don’t get this, or just don’t care about the long term damage their proposals will cause for everyone else.
- Juice - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:34 am:
ModerateGOP, I agree completely, but it has been a bipartisan consensus over decades to not touch it in any sort of truly meaningful way.
Everyone likes to pick on the special purpose districts, but the fact of the matter is the two areas where Illinois trule is an outlier, and where the property tax dollars are actually going are our large number of school districts, and our large numbers of cities/towns/villages.
On the schools, the school funding formula provides incentives (through the assumed tax rate, and this goes back to GSA) for unit districts over separate elementary and high school districts. If the state is not going to be willing to force consolidation of HSDs and ESDs, maybe strengthen those incentives and relatively increase the funding for unit districts. I recognize that not all of the district lines are currently coterminous, so some changes are going to be felt by families and students. But fairly significant efficiencies could likely be had by expanding the number of unit districts, as well as more consistent learning experience from PK-12 in a child’s academic career. In Cook County, there are only 2 unit districts. CPS and Elmwood Park. The Bears should be in huge favor of this push, since it seems they didn’t even realize they would have to negotiate with 4 separate school districts in their Arlington Heights fiasco.
Consolidating municipalities is far stickier. Other than annexing the land the build O’Hare, Chicago hasn’t had a land expansion in basically over a hundred years. Might be something worth looking at. There may also be potential with other suburban areas, or areas like Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, QC or the Metro-East.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:43 am:
What RNUG said x2.
- Excessively Rabid - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 11:44 am:
If this is supposed to be about population loss, it’s not because of real estate taxes on the elderly. It’s about the draconian estate taxes that most other states don’t have. People with money make sure they’re domiciled somewhere else.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 12:42 pm:
“Its a problem for some folks when they retire if they have not planned for it”
That’s not really a problem with property taxes, now is it?
- Lincoln Lad - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
RNUG - sign me up, 100% on board with your suggestion.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 12:44 pm:
- Pot calling kettle -
Seriously. I didn’t say eliminate the school funding, I said for the State to figure out a way to backfill that loss of property tax revenue for the school districts … more school funding from the State, something everyone has been advocating for years.
You can’t reduce the property taxes without addressing the school funding elephant in the room.
- Grandson of Man - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 12:45 pm:
Terrible idea to just yank away revenue from schools and vital services. Unnecessary also because Illinois has gained population.
There was something big Republicans could have supported to help those they supposedly weep for: the Fair Tax. That would have cut property taxes and opened the door to further tax cuts for earners and property owners. Too bad now.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 1:02 pm:
“If you wanted to provide a level of relief, exempt long term owners (30 years?) from the school tax”
If people don’t want to pay as much in property taxes, they can move to a smaller house in the same town, or a different location with fewer services and amenities. We aren’t talking about poor people here with no options, we’re talking about people who likely have a fully paid for house as an asset.
If people don’t want to pay to maintain the area they live in, then why in the world do they want to live there? The only honest answer is people want something for nothing, and any problems arising from that should be shouldered by anyone but themselves.
Were talking about partitioning taxes individually based on use as if every public service wasn’t already previously a per-per-use model, and the failures of doing things that way led to the reform that gave us the shared public services we take for granted today. That’s why its called a public service, and not a personal subscription(just like fire departments called it in the past before moving to being a public service)
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 1:35 pm:
If anyone is serious about property tax reform, just look to Indiana for an example. Homesteads are taxed at 1% of assessed value, plus there is a homestead exemption, and a supplemental exemption. The total tax paid is also capped at 1% of assessed value, so the taxing bodies raising tax rates doesn’t give them a windfall. By comparison the Illinois system is completely broken as nothing is capped, and our homestead and other exemptions are laughably low while we are taxed at rates far higher.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 1:53 pm:
“By comparison the Illinois system is completely broken as nothing is capped”
Completely false.
Illinois allows individual counties to allow or refuse a limitation on property tax extensions for existing property. It’s the first ‘L’ in the PTELL law passed decades ago. Some counties voted by referendum to refuse to follow the allowed limitations provided as an option under state law. Other counties voted to allow the limitation.
“just look to Indiana for an example.”
Okay. Lets compare apples to apples.
What’s the county-level income tax rate where you live in Illinois?
Because even if my property tax rate in Indiana was 0% it still would not save me more than the county income tax adds back on to my total tax burden living in that state in the same size house.
I’ve lived in Indiana. I’m absolutely convinced all the people who think Indiana is some sort of Shangra-La of taxation have never actually lived there and seen the totality of how things work.
- Captain Obvious - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 2:55 pm:
I’d be fine with RNUG’s suggestion. Or capping the tax @ 1% of assessed valuation like Indiana. In my case it would be close to equal. But neither will ever happen. Unless we turn a DOGE like entity loose on state and local budgets that is. No appetite for that kind of thing here in Illinois. Too many true believers that every penny currently being spent funds an absolutely essential program that we simply can’t do without.
- Huh? - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 3:27 pm:
Have been thinking about RNUG idea, and would like to offer a twist.
His idea would apply to the long term home owners who qualify for the senior citizen homestead exemption, and do not have any children attending the local schools.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 4:10 pm:
With exemptions, I pay around $400 bucks per year…small price to pay for the new pavement and the recently repaired sidewalks in front of my home.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 4:55 pm:
== His idea would apply to the long term home owners who qualify for the senior citizen homestead exemption, and do not have any children attending the local schools. ==
That’s reasonable. I kind of partially implied it by suggesting 30 or more years of ownership.
FWIW, there are counties (some, bit all) in Georgia that do exclude school district taxes for homeowners that are senior citizens.
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 5:02 pm:
To TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Feb 19, 25 @ 1:53 pm:My property tax rate for all taxing bodies in Tax Year 2023 was 25.550%; the year before it was about 35%. Tax rates in Lake County, IN never exceeded 7.5% since I started house hunting. I’m still fighting for a property tax reduction after Cook County Assessor first said my property went up over 40% in a year to 95K; Assessor “lowered” it to 81K; BOR lowered it to 71K, but property is only worth 55K on open market due to age/condition/recent sale attempt the BOR ignored. Tell me again about Indiana’s taxes.