This week on the I’ve Had It podcast, Governor JB Pritzker once again claimed he is fighting to lower taxes for working and middle-class families. Illinois families know that claim simply does not match reality.

Just last year, Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly passed the largest budget in state history, totaling more than $55 billion and including roughly $700 million in new taxes. 

Left to right: Reps. Sosnowski, Brady, Ugaste, and Mazzochi. 

Illinois State Representatives Dan Brady (R-Normal), Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) and Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) announced new legislative proposals to provide property tax relief to struggling homeowners today after the Democrat-led Property Tax Relief Task Force failed to present any viable solutions to this crisis.

“We have been waiting, waiting and waiting for Democrats to keep their promise to join us and pass meaningful property tax reform,” said Rep. Deanne Mazzochi. “House Republicans have a package of property tax relief bills stuck in the Rules Committee graveyard that haven’t received the courtesy of even a committee hearing. Those bills are targeted to the very people who told the Property Tax Relief Task Force that they need relief now - particularly seniors who are forced to leave their friends, family, and homes because of skyrocketing property taxes. We are determined to bring real property tax relief to Illinois, and it is sad to see more do-nothing from Democrats, and their refusal to do what it takes to help people stay in their homes." 

Homeowners in the Chicago area are paying higher property tax bills, on average, than 93 percent of the country, according to a new report.

The average 2017 tax bill on a single-family home in Lake County was higher than nearly 99 percent of the 1,414 U.S. counties covered by the report, released yesterday by Attom Data Solutions.

The region's other counties aren't far behind. The average bill in DuPage County is higher than nearly 98 percent, followed by Kane County and McHenry County (both 96 percent), Cook County (94 percent) and Will County (93 percent).

The report covers only counties with 10,000 or more single-family homes. In all, the nation has 3,144 counties, or more than twice the number in Attom's study. The report includes a county-by-county map of the average property tax bill for single-family homes. Read more in Crain's.

The state representative who requested a review of property assessments in every Illinois county said Tuesday she expects a written response this week.

In August, Rep. Jeanne Ives, sent a letter to the Illinois Department of Revenue asking for the review. The request came after Coles County began reassessing commercial property for the first time in 16 years and after a school superintendent from Perry County told lawmakers his county had not reassessed property since the early 1980s, even though state law requires those reassessments every four years. Read the story here.

Chicago has long been a city divided by race and class, a metropolis with starkly different crime rates, economic realities and educational opportunities depending on where you live. But there’s another division in Chicago and Cook County, one that for years has gone unexamined even as it pits rich against poor.

An unprecedented analysis by the Tribune reveals that for years the county’s property tax system created an unequal burden on residents, handing huge financial breaks to homeowners who are well-off while punishing those who have the least, particularly people living in minority communities.

The problem lies with the fundamentally flawed way the county assessor’s office values property.

The valuations are a crucial factor when it comes to determining property tax bills, a burden that for many determines whether they can afford to stay in their homes. Done well, these estimates should be fair, transparent and stand up to scrutiny.

But that’s not how it works in Cook County, where Assessor Joseph Berrios has resisted reforms and ignored industry standards while his office churned out inaccurate values. The result is a staggering pattern of inequality. Read more by the Chicago Tribune's Jason Grotto.

State Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, was honored Monday by a group of veterans on behalf of her late Vietnam-veteran father, as well as thanked for a bill she introduced to help aging veterans and other seniors.

The presentation took place as Rep. McCombie was holding "traveling office hours" with residents at Colona City Hall.

The local veterans presented her with a T-shirt commemorating the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, as well as a Vietnam service coin. Rep. McCombie's father, John "Jack" Reagan, served two tours of duty in Vietnam, beginning in 1967. He died in 2012.

Rep. McCombie was also thanked for her bill, introduced last month, that would raise the income limit for eligibility for the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption, which offers seniors a reduced property-tax bill. Read more.

Once again the Democrat-controlled House brought sham legislation to a vote for the sole purpose of putting Republican lawmakers in a trick bag and embarrassing the new Governor.

House Republicans have long worked to provide Illinoisans with much needed and deserved property tax relief. Each year members of the House Republican Caucus introduce legislation that would deliver property tax relief and each year the Democrats block those measures. The real roadblock to property tax relief has been the Democrat-controlled legislature.

Here are some of the new laws affecting homeowners and their property taxes:

Claiming property tax refunds in Cook County. This law provides that in Cook County only, taxpayers have 20 years to claim a property tax refund, up from the current limit of five years. It also limits refund amounts for taxes paid prior to 2009 to $2.5 million per year.

Allows for property tax bill to be sent via e-mail upon request. Permits County Treasurers to send property tax bills via e-mail if the property owner or taxpayer makes a request in writing. In addition, requires sales tax on leased vehicles to be collected on the monthly payments, as opposed to prior law which provided the tax be collected on the value of the vehicle at the inception of the lease.

Erroneous homestead property tax exemptions. Adds interest and penalties on the principal property tax amount should an erroneous exemption have been granted. The principal property tax amount is considered the amount of the property taxes on the assessed value prior to the erroneous homestead exemption.

Chicago – Neighborhood Recovery Initiative
Lawmakers Urge Freeze of Chicago Anti-Violence State Funds; Call for Additional Investigation of Programs.  In the wake of the Illinois Auditor General’s scathing audit of Governor Quinn’s $54.55 million Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI), State Reps. David Reis (R-Ste. Marie), John Cavaletto (R-Salem) and Dwight Kay (R-Glen Carbon) are demanding all state funds allocated to questionable Chicago anti-violence programs be frozen.  The lawmakers are also calling upon the Auditor General to further investigate state moneys allocated to these programs.

As costs for medicine, healthcare, transportation and food continues to rise, State Representative Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) is taking steps to help protect seniors from increases in property taxes.

Wheeler has signed on as a co-sponsor of House Bill 4209, which would increase the maximum income threshold for the Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption by $5,000.

“Most seniors are on fixed incomes,” said Wheeler. “All around them the costs associated with the necessities of life are increasing, and I’m hearing from many who are at risk of losing their homes due to ongoing hikes in property taxes.” Read the rest of the story.

State Representative Sandy Pihos (R-Glen Ellyn) joined State Representatives Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) and Dennis Rebolletti (R-Elmhurst), along with Senator Michael Connelly (R-Naperville) and DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin to unveil two taxpayer protection bills that would prevent taxing districts from raising taxes when home values are declining.

Sandack, Chief Sponsor of House Bills 4426 and 4429, said the legislation addresses an unforeseen issue with the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law. “When PTELL was created, it protected property owners from huge tax increases during the era when home values were increasing very quickly,” said Sandack. “I would imagine that the authors of the PTELL bill never imagined a scenario where that bill would actually hurt taxpayers. This legislation takes steps to freeze taxes when property values fall and helps people from getting taxed out of their homes during difficult economic times.” Read more.

Though they may find it hard to believe, Chicago property owners pay relatively less in property taxes than suburban owners do, particularly in the city's collar counties. And the difference continues to widen.

So says a new report issued today by the Civic Federation, a Chicago tax watchdog and research group, on the "effective tax rate" paid by owners — the percentage of a property's true market value that has to be paid in property taxes.

The study, as in previous reviews, found dramatic differences in who pays what within the metropolitan area, based on how much each town and school district needs in taxes and how big their property bases are on which those taxes can be levied. Seen over a 10-year period, the differences truly are striking. Read Greg Hinz's take in Crain's.

Budget
Fitch, Moody’s cut State’s bond rating again; reduction is described as response to General Assembly’s May 2013 inaction on pension reform.  The Fitch reduction, announced on Monday, June 3, was from “A” to “A-”, and the Moody’s reduction, announced on Thursday, June 6, was from “A2” to “A3.”  Although these letter grades do not look to outsiders like bad letters, bankers and other professionals treat these letters as bad signs when they are displayed by a public-sector entity.

The Fitch and Moody’s ratings reductions further intensified the reputation of Illinois as the state with the lowest credit rating in the nation.  States traditionally pay among the lowest interest rates when choosing to borrow money, because they (unlike private borrowers) enjoy an unlimited right to replenish their coffers by raising taxes.