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South West Illinois News

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Task force fails to find property tax relief for Illinois homeowners

Mike murphy

Rep. Mike Murphy

Rep. Mike Murphy

Illinois homeowners spend twice the national average on property taxes, but the task force appointed by state lawmakers to find solutions still hasn't offered any months after their December 2019 deadline.

A homeowner with a home valued at $187,200, which is the median home value in the state, pays an average $4,299 on property taxes. The average American family spends $2,376 on their property taxes, the Illinois Policy Center reported.

Only New Jersey homeowners pay higher property taxes, WalletHub reported.

The 88-member Illinois Property Tax Relief Task Force has yet to release an official report. Rep. Mike Murphy, (R-Springfield), said Republican task force members wouldn’t agree to a draft report with rehashed ideas and vague suggestions.

“There’s nothing in here that says ‘tomorrow we’re going to file legislation saying this,’” Murphy told The Center Square.

Murphy, a member of the task force, told Illinois Policy he expects the panel will be used to push Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax hike. Pritzker said in his budget address that voters must pass the income tax in the November election. If they don’t, he promised $1.4 billion in cuts from the 2021 budget for schools and other state services.

Those who back Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan say higher income taxes can be used to cut property taxes.

Illinois residents already took on two of the largest income tax hikes in the past 10 years in state history. Yet property taxes remain the highest in the nation.

Illinois Policy said too many layers of local government plus crippling pension costs drive high property taxes.

The almost 7,000 local government units bury Illinois residents under an average of six layers of local government. Too many school districts take up about two-thirds of property taxes statewide. Only Illinois spent more than $1 billion in 2017 on school administration. Reducing the state’s administrative spending per student to the national average, it could save $708 million a year. That’s money Illinois Policy said could better be spent on property tax relief and in the classrooms.

Local governments don’t have to give homeowners property tax relief if Pritzker’s income tax hike gives them more state funding. The seven states with no income tax have lower property taxes than Illinois. New Jersey continues to have the highest property tax rates despite its progressive income tax.

In 1996 homeowners in Illinois paid about the national average for property taxes. Public pension debt ballooned since then, taking property taxes with it. Approximately half of every additional property tax dollar has gone into funding pension costs over the past two decades.

Illinois Policy said Pritzker should push for an amendment to the Illinois Constitution to allow local governments to gain control over their pension costs instead of asking for higher income taxes. If this does not occur, the state's taxes are expected to rank the highest in the country. 

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