Tax protests come to Chicago

Illinois Tax Revolution takes to the city streets over rising property taxes.

Grassroots activists seeking tax reform are set to stage a protest at the James R. Thompson center in downtown Chicago Oct. 12.

Illinois Tax Revolution, a group dedicated to bringing down Illinois’ skyrocketing property taxes, acquired permits for 100 protestors to voice their grievances. The event is scheduled to start at noon.

In addition to a rollback on property taxes, Illinois Tax Revolution is also calling for pension reform, school consolidation and reform of over 7,000 units of government through elimination or consolidation.

Illinois Tax Revolution’s objections are hard to argue – property taxes across the Land of Lincoln have grown over three times faster than median household incomes since 1990 and show no signs of slowing down. This decades-long trend of tax and spend has led to Illinois having the highest property taxes in the nation, with a massive pension crisis and redundant units of local government.

Middle and working class Illinoisans protesting in the Windy City have even more to gripe about after the news Oct. 11 that the Chicago Teachers Union scored a lucrative deal at the taxpayers’ expense. But the frustration with the state’s high tax burden is decades in the making.