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Quinn touts passage of non-binding tax referendum, Curran dismisses results

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Illinois

* Click here for county results as of Nov. 10, according to Pat Quinn. And here’s a press release from the former governor…

On November 5, Illinois voters delivered a resounding 60% landslide victory for the Illinois Property Tax Relief Amendment Referendum marking the first time in state history that voters had a direct referendum chance to vote on a specific measure to fund property tax relief for over 3 million households in Illinois.

The advisory referendum which was placed on the ballot by the General Assembly and Governor asked “Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?”

The property tax burden is a major factor in the cost of living for more than 3 million Illinois homeowners who pay more than $23.2 billion in residential property taxes every year.

After New Jersey, Illinois has the second highest property taxes in the nation and eight Illinois counties - Cook, DuPage, Lake, Will, Kane, McHenry, Kendall, and DeKalb - are among the highest property tax counties in America.

Voters in each of these eight counties approved the property tax relief referendum by wide margins as well as voters in Champaign, Rock Island, Peoria, Winnebago, McLean, Madison, St. Clair, Sangamon, Vermilion, Macon, LaSalle, Kankakee, Jackson, and Saline counties. The referendum was approved in urban, suburban, and rural areas across the state.

“The people of Illinois have spoken in a language that every public official in the state should understand - it’s time for a constitutional amendment mandating relief from unfair and back-breaking property taxes,” said former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

The Illinois Department of Revenue has estimated that a millionaire surcharge of 3% on individual annual income over $1 million would generate $4.5 billion for property tax relief.

According to most recent data, Illinois has 77,323 millionaires who declare more than $1 million in net income on their annual income tax returns. Millionaires in Illinois currently have a lighter income tax rate burden than millionaires in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The Illinois tax code is considered one of the 10 most unfair codes in the country.

In 2019, the General Assembly and Governor enacted legislation creating the Illinois Property Tax Relief Fund as a special fund in the state treasury. The law calls for annual property tax rebates to be given to each of the state’s more than 3 million households eligible for the household exemption.

“The Property Tax Relief Fund law is an administratively simple and straightforward mechanism to distribute annual property tax rebates to more than 3 million Illinois households from the billions of dollars generated by a 3% income tax surcharge on the state’s 77,323 millionaires,” said Quinn.

“For too long, millionaires have been getting tax breaks and Illinois homeowners have been getting higher and higher property tax bills.”

The Property Tax Relief Amendment will need three-fifths approval from the members of the Illinois House and Senate by May 3, 2026 to go on the 2026 general election ballot for referendum approval by Illinois voters.

* Senate Republican Leader John Curran was asked about the referendum’s passage today…

Curran: I think the public spoke very forcefully and in favor of the current taxation process in the Constitution and rejected Governor Pritzker’s graduated income tax two years ago. I would not expect to see that come back.

Q: So you don’t think that the voters, even though they’ve said they support charging millionaires an additional 3% for property tax relief, you don’t think that they’re going to support an ultimate constitutional amendment?

Curran: There was no campaign around… Look, those three measures were put on the ballot to crowd out any citizen ballot initiative. Let’s be honest about what was going on there. There was a citizen ballot initiative going on in the state of Illinois. They didn’t want it to make it to the ballot, so they crowded it out with three spots. It’s great to get feedback from the public. That’s fantastic. But likely a different result when you actually put some campaigning and education behind it.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 1:25 pm

Comments

John Curran, standing athwart yelling to voters, “you don’t matter.”

Comment by Google Is Your Friend Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 1:27 pm
“But likely a different result when you actually put some campaigning and education behind it.”

“Education” ie once we propagandize the public with misleading content from the rich, I’m sure the plebes will change their minds.

Comment by Techie Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 1:41 pm
“There was no campaign around…” Please finish that thought, Senator. No astroturfed anti-campaign funded by a billionaire who ended up moving to Florida anyway?

Comment by Sterling Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 1:46 pm
Curran is correct here

“Look, those three measures were put on the ballot to crowd out any citizen ballot initiative”

And to fix the “projected $3.16 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1″ the Dems are free to use their supermajority to raise the flat income tax.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 1:49 pm
The problem I see is there is no language showing how much of the new tax money would be used to lower property taxes. Local taxes could be raised before or after the increased income tax money is distributed.

Comment by Dupage Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 2:02 pm
The same non-binding ballot measure got 60% 10 years ago. And yet…

All Pat did was muddy the waters if JB floats a progressive income tax as an option to balance the budget instead of a flat tax increase. Everyone’s going to expect a property tax refund.

Comment by City Zen Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 2:31 pm
The Democrats who have run the State with their super majorities routinely find new ways to spend whatever new revenues they can find( look at the Covid monies)- anyone believing this time will be different are very naive- he only thing a millionaires tax will accomplish is the State will have fewer of them

Comment by Sue Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 2:49 pm
- Look, those three measures were put on the ballot to crowd out any citizen ballot initiative. -

So? It had extremely clear language unlike the last one, and voters supported it. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t want it on the ballot.

Comment by Excitable Boy Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 3:07 pm
==All Pat did==

He didn’t put the question on the ballot. He advocated for it once it was there - and most voters agreed with him. Your attempts at degradation and dismissiveness are weak.

Comment by Carpe GM Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 3:50 pm
== find new ways to spend whatever new revenues they can find( look at the Covid monies)==

So they shouldn’t have taken the money? And they spent it on one time things.

==the only thing a millionaires tax==

If I were a betting man I would bet that the majority of voters aren’t going to be too sympathetic to taxing millionaires more. Attempting to defend the rich isn’t a winning argument.

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 4:16 pm
Why don’t we have some advisory referendums on cutting the budget? It’s always about how to squeeze more money out of the taxpayers and anybody thinks that million dollar threshold will stick as a fool.

Comment by Lincoln must be rolling over I shame Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 4:25 pm
Pat Quinn needs to find another hobby.

Comment by Thoughts Tuesday, Nov 12, 24 @ 7:41 pm