High inflation could lead to property tax hikes in Illinois

Many years-high inflation means native governments can simply increase Illinoisans’ property taxes by 5% through the subsequent yr. That makes it an particularly dangerous time to compound the property tax hike with Modification 1.

Illinoisans’ property taxes may enhance 5% beginning in 2023 as native governments think about elevating charges by the utmost allowed stage to offset losses from decades-high inflation.

Fact in Accounting founder Sheila Weinberg  mentioned Illinois skilled 7% inflation in 2021, the very best stage reported for the reason that state instituted a property tax cap in 1991. The Property Tax Extension Limitation regulation prevented native leaders from elevating property tax charges above the annual charge of inflation, as much as a most of 5%.

The Fact in Account web site defined inflation has elevated by a mean 2.2% yearly in Illinois since 1993, reaching a 4% excessive through the Nice Recession in 2008. Weinberg mentioned native leaders can now vote to boost these charges “much more than the already excessive quantity they see now.”

“With inflation as excessive as it’s, native governments will now have the choice to extend property taxes to that [maximum] stage,” Weinberg advised The Middle Sq.. “They will do that simply by a vote from the village board.”

Illinois was house to the nation’s second-highest property taxes in 2021. Its households have paid an additional $2,288 in property taxes simply since Pritzker took workplace.

But when voters approve Modification 1 on Nov. 8, a conservative estimate exhibits property taxes would enhance a minimum of $2,149 through the subsequent 4 years. As a result of the change to the state structure vastly expands authorities union bosses’ means to make calls for over a wider vary of matters, the property tax chunk might be a lot larger.

Modification 1 expands the bargaining energy of presidency union bosses to barter over a close to infinite array of topics, in the end forcing residents to pay the invoice for expensive contract concessions that carry extra weight than state legal guidelines.

With decades-high inflation already driving up the prices of on a regular basis items on Illinoisans, greater property taxes promise to push extra residents out of the state by making housing much less inexpensive. Including the Modification 1 tax burden to the load native taxing our bodies are anticipated to impose due to inflation is quite a bit to ask of stretched household budgets.