Homeowners may have escaped a property tax hike, but their pocketbooks will be hit in other ways, with new taxes and fees expected to generate $181 million this year.

At least two studies have called these kinds of new taxes and fees regressive, hitting poor Chicagoans the hardest.

In 2024, former Gov. Pat Quinn found himself with a case of déjà vu.

He was campaigning across Illinois, urging voters to approve a ballot referendum recommending a 3% surcharge on incomes above $1 million.

It was all so familiar to Quinn, and with good reason: He’d championed an advisory referendum for the exact same proposal a decade earlier. And though it was supported by voters back then, the Legislature did nothing.

Steve Gates has spent the last two years making the Roseland community safer through his nonprofit street outreach group.

He worries the progress could be lost after a grant runs out in January.

An Aurora mayoral candidate wants to limit campaign donations from people and companies that do business with the city, saying such donations are “pay to play” politics that hurt residents.

John Laesch, who is an alderman-at-large, filed a hefty petition Monday afternoon at the city clerk’s office for an advisory referendum.

Peoria has the highest property taxes in the country relative to market value of homes, according to a study of 342 of the largest cities.

SmartAsset ranked cities based on the “median annual real estate taxes paid on owner-occupied homes with a mortgage relative to the median home value of such households.”