We must act now on property taxes

Property taxes have long been a major problem for Illinois homeowners. They are the highest in the nation and making life unaffordable for everyone. Recently, Gov. Pritzker was asked about property taxes, and his statements indicate he couldn’t be more out of touch with voters.

The truth, Governor, is that while property taxes are set locally, those local units of government are limited by what the state allows them to do. We have the controls. Furthermore, it’s often the state laws and policies passed by his party that result in local property taxes rising. For instance, HB 4416 is recently moved through Labor Committee. If it becomes law, it would provide unemployment benefits to non-instructional and non-administrative school district employees during summer break. This would cause every school district to either to increase taxes or cut back on services provided to students. Simply stated, it’s an unfunded mandate. These tactics must stop.

House Republicans have introduced many bills aimed at lowering property taxes, including my HB 9, HB 1323, and HB 5736, but these bills always fall on deaf ears with the supermajority in Springfield. If anyone doesn’t believe me, just recall the Property Tax Relief Task Force in 2019. No reports or bills providing relief ever came out of this Task Force, which included over 100 legislators and the Governor’s staff.

Despite the rhetoric from the other side, all is not well in Illinois. The 30-year Cook County Property Tax Report demonstrates our property tax problem, as well as the need for such a report statewide. We must take steps to provide property tax relief now. We have to stop the outmigration and grow our state’s population, economy, and tax base. It is time to stop just talking about property tax relief and start doing something about it.

State Rep. Dan Ugaste

Geneva