Gov. JB Pritzker has been standing tall against assaults on our state by federal barbarians knocking at the gates. Yet, his stance hasn’t stopped many Illinoisans from continuing to take flight and leave the bounty of the Prairie State.
For the 10th year in a row, Illinois has retained its outbound status for movers, with more than 58% of moves in 2024 leaving the Land of Lincoln, according to Atlas Van Lines’ 31st annual migration patterns study released earlier this month. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Illinois’ population has declined for a decade, with an additional loss of 32,826 residents from July 2022 to July 2023.
The study cites a high cost of living, public education funding, health-care accessibility in under-resourced neighborhoods and high taxes — the second-highest property taxes in the nation — as major factors for relocation. The survey adds that the cost of homes in the Prairie State increased, on average, in price by 5.7% last year. Illinois, the moving company says, is among the top 15 most expensive states to live in.
Despite the number of flourishing entrepreneurs in Illinois, the state also is the ninth most expensive place to start a business. A 9.5% corporate income tax, increased numbers of fees and regulations, cost of labor and utility expenses all add up. Companies that choose locations to help reduce the costs of taxes, utilities and wages have a leg up on the competition and chances of staying in business in the long haul.
While Apple officials announced plans earlier this week to invest $500 billion in the U.S., and hire 20,000 people in the next four years, Illinois didn’t crop up as a location where the tech giant is looking. The tech company said it plans to open a new factory in Houston to make advanced computer servers currently manufactured outside the U.S., to power the company’s push into artificial intelligence.
Apple said a new 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility will be built in Houston, which is expected to surpass Chicago in the next decade as the nation’s third-largest city. Texas has lured a number of former Illinois firms in the last few years. Apple also announced the expansion of data center operations in Arizona, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Oregon.
In an effort to stem population losses comes a state GOP lawmaker with a tax-relief plan. It has several problems, however. First, being introduced by a Republican in a legislature with a Democrat supermajority.
Senate Bill 1862 hopes to amend the state’s property tax code and eliminate property taxes for those who have owned a single-family home for 30 years. It’s an interesting proposal, one that is picking up co-sponsors in the state Senate.
Sen. Neil Anderson of tiny Andalusia in far western Rock Island County, along the Mississippi River, filed the bill earlier this month. It would establish a homestead exemption for any qualified taxpayer who has paid property taxes on a residential property for three decades.
Anderson says the proposal is a way to keep people in Illinois and stop senior citizens from moving to another state because of high property taxes as they age in their homes. Depending on where you live, property taxes in Illinois are a major financial burden for many, especially in these inflationary times.
The median property tax in Lake County is $6,285 per year for a home worth the median value of $287,300. That taxing amount is the median for Illinois, which is based on a home assessed at $300,000.
The county collects, on average, 2.19% of a property’s assessed fair market value for property taxes that support governmental bodies. Only New Jersey homeowners have a higher median property tax, $6,770, than Illinoisans. Surprisingly, Hawaii has a lower median tax value because of an overall lower tax rate.
The average American household spends $2,969 on property taxes for their homes each year, says the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the National Tax Lien Association, a shocking figure of more than $14 billion in property taxes go unpaid annually.
It is Illinois seniors who are the ones who mainly have lived in their homes for that 30-year figure. They already receive general homestead and senior citizen discounts on their property taxes, which are deductible for federal income tax filings. How will that work?
Certainly Democratic legislators will ignore this latest attempt at overall tax relief, something that has been promised state property owners for decades. Also shocked by the proposal must be local school officials.
Property taxes are the chief financial funding, about 70% of one’s tax bill is dedicated to school districts in Lake County. If a large chunk of tax dollars is lost through this 30-year homestead exclusion, where will the money come from to make up the difference for schools?
If Senate Bill 1862 gets a fair hearing in Springfield, answers to some of the questions may be answered in committee hearings. Don’t expect that because this bill, like previous pledges of tax relief, is a non-starter.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
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