Quinn hikes taxes on Illinois homeowners as part of ‘property tax relief law’

by Brian Costin Gov. Pat Quinn just hiked my property taxes. And, if you’re younger than 65 years old, he just hiked your property taxes too. But if you attended Quinn’s bill signing ceremony for Senate Bill 1894 you would have seen him championing himself as a fighter against Illinois’ outrageously high property tax rates, as evidenced...

by Brian Costin

Gov. Pat Quinn just hiked my property taxes.

And, if you’re younger than 65 years old, he just hiked your property taxes too.

But if you attended Quinn’s bill signing ceremony for Senate Bill 1894 you would have seen him championing himself as a fighter against Illinois’ outrageously high property tax rates, as evidenced his press release, “Governor Quinn Signs Property Tax Relief Law.”

The release says SB 1894, “potentially sav[es] seniors up to more than $200 annually.” But this property tax savings number is wildly exaggerated for most Illinois seniors, and any property tax savings for seniors will be entirely shifted to other taxpayers – resulting in a net wash for Illinois taxpayers.

In fact, by increasing the senior homestead exemption from $4,000 to $5,000, the average savings for an Illinois senior citizen homeowner would be only about $57.90.*

Even in Kendall County, which has the highest property tax rates in the state, the average savings for a senior citizen homeowner would be $75.90, well short of the “more than $200 annually” touted by Quinn.

But this savings calculation assumes that local taxing bodies won’t increase their tax levy in subsequent years. Because most local taxing bodies increase their property tax levy every year, even with the passage of this bill most seniors will continue to see their property taxes increase year after year.

Undoubtedly, politicians of both parties will celebrate the passage of this bill and pat themselves on the back for fighting against Illinois’ high property taxes. In reality, this fake property tax “reform” does nothing to fix Illinois’ sky-high property taxes.

But seniors do vote more regularly than any other population group, so be prepared to see political mailers from incumbents running for re-election in 2014 on this subject. They will likely use their vote on this bill to tout how they stood up for property taxpayers.

Don’t buy it.

Fake reforms diminish the opportunity for real reforms.

The problem with SB 1894 is that Illinois’ property tax crisis doesn’t go away with its passage. This law won’t affect the root cause of Illinois’ high property taxes – growing property tax levies by local taxing bodies.

Until stronger legislation is passed to limit property tax levies, we will continue to see property taxes in Illinois grow and grow.

No amount of press conferences by the governor will change that fact.

*According to the Tax Foundation, the median effective owner-occupied property tax rate in Illinois is 1.93 percent. Because real estate in Illinois is assessed at 33 percent of market value, except for Cook County, a $1,000 reduction in assessed value is equivalent to a $3,000 reduction in market value. Resulting in an average savings of $57.90 for those utilizing the larger senior homestead exemption.