Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently approved two laws intended to spur change in the way property taxes work in Illinois. They are old ideas that will provide more show than relief.
Updated budget forecasts show a $982 million shortfall for the upcoming 2025 budget as Chicago grapples with $223 million remaining deficit this year. Mayor Brandon Johnson refuses to rule out property tax hikes.
Illinoisans paid the second-highest property tax rate in the U.S. in 2022, with the median Illinois homeowner spending more than taxpayers in Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina combined. See how your county compares.
While most Cook County residents have seen property taxes rise, the suburbs saw the biggest hikes during the past 20 years. Chicago homeowners and business owners are feeling less tax pain than their suburban peers.
Chicago’s residential property taxes between 2020 and 2021 were pretty volatile. Don’t be happy about a big drop, though, because it might mean your home isn’t worth as much.
Votes were still being counted on Amendment 1, but the vote was very close. If approved, the change to the Illinois Constitution would expand collective bargaining powers just for government unions.
Illinoisans will have paid an extra $3.94 billion in property taxes during Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s term. Four years ago he campaigned on a promise of property tax relief.
Total property tax extensions are on pace to total more than $40 billion by 2026, $4 billion more than at present. Amendment 1’s expansion of government union power would likely accelerate that increase.
Illinois finds itself at a crossroads: will it empower minorities and poor people to unleash their potential, or will it perpetuate an inequitable status quo? For far too many Illinoisans, opportunity is unfairly and unnecessarily out of reach. Illinois ranks in the bottom ten among all states in social mobility and last among Midwest states...