Quinn should take note: Only 1% of Chicagoans support property-tax hike
Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval rating is low, typically hovering just shy of 30 percent. But one thing voters disapprove of even more is hiking property taxes to pay for Chicago pensions. A recent Chicago Sun-Times poll shows that only 1 percent of Chicago voters would support a property tax increase to help prop up the...
Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval rating is low, typically hovering just shy of 30 percent. But one thing voters disapprove of even more is hiking property taxes to pay for Chicago pensions. A recent Chicago Sun-Times poll shows that only 1 percent of Chicago voters would support a property tax increase to help prop up the city’s pension funds.
“Pollster Michael McKeon said he’s not surprised that the property tax was shunned by 99 percent of voters surveyed. There’s a reason they call it the “third-rail of Chicago politics,” he said.
“’If you touch property taxes, it’s poison. Every poll we’ve done shows same thing,’ McKeon said.”
Quinn governs the state with the nation’s second-highest property taxes. He knows property taxes are toxic. He also knows lowering property taxes could score him some big points in an election year. That’s why Quinn made the promise of property tax relief a core component of his budget address this year.
But now Quinn may break that promise.
If he signs the Chicago pension bill sitting on his desk, he’ll give Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago aldermen the green light to massively hike Chicago property taxes.
Considering the results of the Sun-Times poll, higher property taxes could destroy Quinn’s already rock-bottom approval rating. That’d be a dangerous move for a governor in an election year.
Higher property taxes will not solve Chicago’s pension crisis. As long as the some politicians who got Chicago into this mess are in control of the city’s pension funds, taxpayers and workers will be at risk.
The good news is there’s a plan to solve Chicago’s pension crisis that doesn’t involve another property tax hike.
The Illinois Policy Institute offers a reform plan that avoids tax hikes and immediately cuts Chicago’s pension shortfall in half. The core of the solution is a hybrid retirement plan for city workers that gives them a self-managed plan and fixed, monthly Social Security-like benefits at retirement.
The last thing Chicagoans need is a property tax hike. It’s time for Quinn to go back to the drawing board and offer a real, sustainable solution for the city of Chicago’s pension crisis.