:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/JP5PSM3U7RBAPFSYMXTSBYYIBE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/BNJCR3SQOZBLLLZWYB45TW7Q3Q.jpg)
Homeowners may have missed some presents under their Christmas trees last month. Those early gifts of sizable tax hikes will be coming due in 2024.
Across Lake County and the region, government bodies late last year announced property tax extension increases will be coming fast and furious in the new year. From Tony Kenilworth on Cook County’s North Shore, to west suburban Aurora, to Round Lake Unit School District 116, taxing bodies are seeking more funding.
Government tax levies — some which may drop as their finances become clearer in 2024 — approved in November and December last year are for taxes payable this year. During the reign of now-disgraced state House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, property owners were regularly promised tax relief to ease rising local tax burdens.
Like many issues during the Madigan era, Illinoisans’ pleas were ignored. The cold shoulder continues and if you live in Chicago, plans for an expanded real estate transfer tax are ahead.
The conservative-leaning Illinois Policy Institute estimates Illinoisans pay the second-highest amount of property taxes in the nation, and have the highest overall tax burden. Despite several “task forces” named to study tax relief, no proposals to ebb the tax tide have materialized from Springfield.
Some of the Lake County taxing bodies levying higher taxes for 2024 include the Park District of Highland Park, Newport Fire District, Emmons Grade School District 33, Foss Park District in North Chicago and County of Lake. There’s more coming down the pike, while assessed property valuations are expected to rise.
College of Lake County trustees adopted a proposed tax hike of 4.87% in mid-November. That will translate to an $11 increase over 2023 for owners of homes assessed at $300,000.
After Waukegan Unit School District 60 officials first decided to keep the tax rate at the same level for a fifth year, school board members reneged on that stand. Instead, they decided to bump the levy to 4.99% over last year. Officials argued the boost is necessary to ensure student success.
Across the Land of Lincoln, local taxpayers pay the bulk of their property taxes to fund their school districts, from elementary, to high school, to community college. State money, according to our Constitution, should be paying for K-12 education costs.
If past actions are any indication, property tax bills are expected to be mailed out in May with the first payment due in early June; the second in early September. There is always the slim chance taxing bodies will reduce their levies prior to tax bills being issued.
For CLC taxpayers, which is most county property owners, an $11 hike doesn’t seem like much, but add the increases from other local governments and we’re talking real money. It’s the main reason high-tax Illinois continues to see population losses.
Unless, that is, one tallies the increasing numbers of immigrants being dumped at Illinois airports and suburban Metra train stations by the minions of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Even more asylum-seekers who supposedly want to call Chicago home are expected to journey to the city in 2024 thanks to free get-out-of-Texas transportation fares, which include a much-needed increase to Metra’s ridership numbers.
As for the state and local tax obligation Illinoisans bear, it is a heavy load. The tax burden for 2023 was 11.1%, according to the Tax Foundation, which eats into earnings of middle-class families.
Lake County News-Sun
The national group says the overall Illinois tax system ranks 36th in the U.S. That includes our flat income tax of 4.95%, which we’ll be paying in April. Add a corporate income tax of 9.5% and an average combined state and local sales tax rate of 8.82%. Then there’s the state and local gasoline taxes, various sin taxes and further “revenue enhancements.”
Illinois government tax increases are outstripping inflation and wage growth, a situation high-growth states with lower taxes don’t have. Such as Texas, where asylum-seekers are fleeing, and Illinois companies fled to in 2023.
The well-heeled can always leave for tax-friendly states. Many have, and others who can afford to are making plans to do so in 2024 as part of their New Year’s resolutions.
Two 2024 resolutions state and local officials should resolve: Stop leaning on higher taxes, and this year give Illinois’ overburdened taxpayers a respite in the form of property-tax relief.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
X @sellenews