Think tank: New property tax laws in Illinois fail to offer taxpayers any relief

(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed two bills into law that aim to address property taxes in Illinois, but a policy think tank says neither will bring any reforms.

One measure allows home rule municipalities to provide abatements for newly remodeled homes, but the Illinois Policy Institute notes that it simply shifts the property tax burden to those who didn’t make improvements.

Another law commissions the Illinois Department of Revenue to study the entire property tax system in the state, including a review of assessments, collections and the tax levies themselves.

Pritzker mandated a similar directive to a task force in 2019. The task force released a draft report recommending various changes in policy, including government consolidation, more education funding and expanding the sales tax base.

Joe Tabor, director of policy research with the Illinois Policy Institute , said few of the task force’s recommendations were followed up on, and the report ignored the main driver of property taxes in Illinois and that is overpromised public pensions.

“A lot of this money that is going to teacher’s pensions, for example, could be going to other education expenses and that could reduce property taxes,” said Tabor. “We need a constitutional amendment to allow changes in future benefits.”

Tabor adds that the bills are just changing policy around the edges without taking action to address the root causes of high property taxes.

Illinois has the second-highest property taxes in the country behind only New Jersey, taxing Illinois residents more than five states combined.

The typical Illinois homeowner paid about $5,055 in property taxes in 2022, more than double the typical American homeowner’s bill of $2,547, according to the most recent census data from 2022.