East Central Reporter

Chris Miller thinks House Speaker Mike Madigan’s latest push to raise property taxes across the state by nearly 50 percent in each of the next 30 years will ultimately lead to just another dead end.

“It’s a typical Democratic, Madigan-led effort to fix what he’s screwed up by doing more of what he’s done to cause the problem,” Miller told the East Central Reporter. “This time it won’t work because so many people are already leaving Illinois over taxes being too high and others are on edge and something like this could be just the final thing to push them out the door.”

The statewide property tax increase plan idea comes courtesy of the Federal Reserve with all the added revenue slated to be applied toward the state’s rising pension debt.

Shirley Bell

The DuPage Policy Journal previously reported the property tax plan would increase the annual taxes on a home valued at $500,000 by roughly $5,000, a rate of added revenue over a 30-year period that's more than enough to erase the state’s massive pension liabilities, according to estimates by a team of economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  

Miller, running against Democrat Shirley Bell in the 110th House District, counters taxpayers have more than just a few reasons to be skeptical.

“Politicians in Springfield have proven themselves incapable of managing money,” he said. “The more money you give these guys, the more money they spend. There is no fiscal restraint, and you can’t tax or borrow your way to prosperity.”

At 2.67 of a home’s value, Illinois homeowners already pay the highest property tax rates in the country.

“We’re seeing our population steadily decline because of all the state’s problems and trying to fix them by way of more taxation will just accelerate the problem,” Miller said.

The tax increases might not end there, as Ford, Lake, Kane, Frankfort and Will counties will all have a referendum on the ballot this November asking voters to weigh in on a proposed 1-percent sales tax increase.

Illinois Policy Institute reports revenue from the 1-percent sales tax increase proposed for Will County has already been earmarked for local school districts, and more than a dozen schools have already signed onto the referendum.

Placed in the newly formed category of County School Facility Occupation Tax (CSFT), the sales tax increase would put the tax burden of some Will County residents in the same ballpark as the 10.25 percent rates in Chicago, home to the highest combined sales tax rate in the country.

In Frankfort, the sales tax rate would jump from 7 percent to 8 percent.

“The outcome to all this seems pretty obvious when you consider people are already voting with their feet,” Miller said. “People are no longer waiting for the politicians to finally get things right, they’re just leaving Illinois because they see no light at the end of the tunnel.”

While Miller likewise sees the situation as dire, he admits he holds out hope for the state.

“If we can just flip nine seats and oust Madigan from power, all the people and businesses that already have a foot out the door may see the change in direction as enough reason to stick around,” he said. “The dangerous flip side of that is you’ve already got (Democratic) gubernatorial candidate (J.B.) Pritzker promising to make things worse with his wacky graduated tax idea.”

The 110th House District includes Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and Lawrence counties.