Thirty years of pain: Illinoisans suffer as property tax bills grow far faster than household incomes, home values – Wirepoints Special Report

Download a PDF copy of the report

Appendix A – County property taxes by effective tax rate

Appendix B – County property taxes by county A-Z


By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

Any way you cut them, the residential property taxes Illinoisans pay are punitive.

As a share of household incomes, they’re up more than 60 percent compared to three decades ago, never mind the law passed in 1991 meant to limit property tax increases.*

When measured as a percentage of home values, Illinois property taxes are now the highest in the country. ATTOM Data Solutions calculates Illinois effective tax rate equaled 1.86 percent in 2021.

And as for their impact on house prices, property taxes have contributed to Illinois suffering the nation’s third-worst growth in home values over the last 20 years.

In this report, Wirepoints breaks down the property tax pain felt by Illinoisans. We start with how the growth in tax bills over time has overwhelmed residents’ ability to pay for them. We also look at the data county by county, identifying places with the largest burdens and how they’ve changed over time. 

We then look at Illinois’ effective property tax rates – property taxes as a percentage of home values – and compare them to those in the rest of the country.

Last, we look at how the growth in Illinois home prices compares to the rest of the country.

The punishing numbers – and Illinois’ outlier position nationally – make an overwhelming case for reforming the cost drivers of Illinois’ property tax crisis, from pensions to public sector collective bargaining laws to education spending.

If Illinois doesn’t reform pensions, roll back overly-friendly public union labor laws and reorganize K-12 education funding, residents will continue to flee from the highest property taxes in the nation.

Property taxes vs. household incomes

Over the last 30 years, Illinois property tax bills grew far faster than household incomes. That’s left Illinoisans with less money in their wallets for essentials like groceries, tuitions, mortgages, and retirement contributions.

Residential property tax bills per household have grown 2.1 times more than median household incomes since 1990. Tax bills per household have grown 268 percent over the entire period, while incomes have only grown 127 percent. As a benchmark, inflation was up 98 percent over the same period.

The resulting change in burden has been significant. The average household now owes nearly $4,400 in taxes each year, up from $1,200 in 1990.

That bigger tax bill is taking a bigger bite out of residents’ incomes. In 1990, property taxes ate up 3.6 percent of median household incomes in Illinois. By 2020, they had jumped to 5.9 percent of incomes.

Think of it as an overall 2.3 percentage point tax hike. Or a 62 percent jump in the tax rate.

If there’s good news in the numbers, it’s that Illinois’ tax rate has actually dropped from its peak in 2011. Illinois’ property tax rates hit a record 7.2 percent in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the burst of the housing bubble.

Since then, a slower-than average growth in residential taxes and a faster-than average increase in median household incomes, especially during the Trump economy, has dropped the rate down to 5.9 percent by 2020.

That said, it’s only a 20 percent decline off the peak. Illinois’ burden still remains higher than the 3.6 percent rate of 1990.

If the trend in tax and income growth since 2010 continues, Illinoisans will still have to wait 30 years for the property tax rate to return to the same level as it was in 1990.

Even extreme measures can’t bring the rate down quickly. If Illinois were to freeze the total residential property tax levy where it is now, it would still take at least a decade for the rate to fall to the 3.6 percent Illinois homeowners were paying in 1990.

Property tax pain, county by county

While the statewide numbers capture how big the property tax problem is, the pain is felt locally. Wirepoints calculated the impact of property tax growth on a county-by-county basis since the year 1990 and found that few Illinoisans have been spared from the pinch on their wallets.

Today, 13 counties – containing 70 percent of Illinois’ population – have residential property taxes that consume 5 percent or more of Illinoisans’ household incomes. In another 40 counties, the burden runs from 3 percent to 4.9 percent.

Homeowners in Lake County are burdened with the highest property tax rates in Illinois. In 1990, Lake County residents paid 6.1 percent of their household incomes toward property taxes. In 2020, residents paid 7.8 percent, a 27 percent increase. The average Lake County property tax bill is now over $7,800 per household.

Meanwhile, the residents of the other collar counties and Cook County pay about 7 percent of their incomes to property taxes, with average bills ranging from $4,700 to $6,600 a year.

Overall, the collar counties pay the highest taxes as a percent of income in the state. But it’s not just the Chicago suburbs that are taking a hit; taxpayers downstate have seen their taxes rise, too. In fact, most of the counties that have had the biggest growth in taxes on a percentage basis are found downstate.

Pike County residents, though they pay relatively low taxes, have seen their rates jump 137 percent since 1990. Residents in Grundy County have seen their rates go up by 119 percent. Next come Putnam and Piatt counties, which both had growth of 108 percent.

Property taxes vs. home values

Property tax burdens are usually calculated by comparing property tax bills to home values. Take the total tax bill, divide it by the value of the home and you arrive at an “effective property tax rate.” It’s a useful way to compare burdens across states.

Under that measure, Illinois is the nation’s extreme outlier when it comes to property taxes. According to ATTOM, a leading curator of real estate data nationwide for land and property, Illinoisans pay the nation’s highest effective property taxes.

Illinois’ effective property tax rate equaled 1.86 percent in 2021 – more than double the effective rate that residents in Missouri (0.86 percent) and Indiana (0.77 percent) pay and triple what Kentuckians (0.64 percent) pay.

A separate study from last year by the Tax Foundation found that Illinoisans pay the country’s second-highest property taxes, behind only New Jersey.

And yet another study by the Lincoln Institute Land Policy – measuring effective property tax rates in the largest city in each state, plus Aurora, Buffalo and Washington D.C. – found that Chicago and Aurora’s residential property taxes are some of the highest in the nation. Aurora hits its residents with an effective tax rate of 3.25 percent – the highest of the 53 big cities measured.

Chicago taxes are lower than that, but still high compared to most other cities. The Windy City hits its homeowners with a 1.54 percent rate, the 15th-highest of the cities measured. The average tax rate among all the cities was 1.34 percent.

It’s not hard to see how Illinois ended up as the nation’s outlier when one compares the long-term growth in residential property taxes to the state’s home values.

Residential property tax bills per household have grown 2.4 times more than average Illinois home values since 1990. Tax bills per household have grown 268 percent over the entire period, while average home values have only grown 114 percent. Inflation was up 98 percent over the same period.

Stagnant home values

Property taxes have inflicted damage to residents’ wallets in another way: they’ve contributed to the state’s lethargic home price growth. Higher property taxes mean lower home values, everything else equal.

Many people rely on their homes to provide for their financial and retirement security. Oftentimes, that’s where their entire net worth is. The more home values appreciate, the better off residents are. 

In Illinois, median home values have barely kept up with inflation since 2000. Home values grew 55 percent while inflation grew 50 percent over the past two decades.

That’s made Illinois a national outlier. This state experienced the nation’s 3rd-worst growth in real median home values since 2000, growing just 3 percent. Only Michigan and Ohio, both of which had their inflation-adjusted home values shrink over the period, performed worse than Illinois.

Reducing property taxes through reform

Lawmakers have talked for years about lowering property taxes, but there’s been no real effort to structurally fix the problem. The legislature’s last real attempt, the 1991 Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), has failed for decades. Most recently, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s blue ribbon tax reform committee delivered no real solutions or even a final report.

Instead, politicians continue to make things worse by refusing to reform the major cost drivers of property taxes. Rather than reform existing pensions and reduce pension debts, lawmakers have increased benefits for government workers. Rather than reduce the collective bargaining powers of the public sector unions, lawmakers have granted them even more powers. And rather than actually address the problems with education funding, lawmakers have only thrown more state money at schools.

Some supporters of property tax reform believe in implementing a property tax cap. But capping the growth in property taxes won’t fix the real problem: local cost drivers. Local governments will simply hike other taxes and fees to pay for their pension, labor and education costs. 

Pension reform, starting with a constitutional amendment to the state’s pension protection clause, collective bargaining reforms and local government consolidation are the only ways to structurally and permanently reduce Illinoisans’ property tax bills.

*Illinois’ Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) was passed in 1991 to provide tax relief from rising property taxes in non-home-rule taxing districts in collar counties DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. Today, property taxes in 39 counties, including Cook, are subject to PTELL. Under the law, increases in property tax extensions are limited to the lesser of 5% or the increase in inflation in the previous year.

Appendix A – County property taxes by effective tax rate

Appendix B – County property taxes by county A-Z

Appendix C – Property taxes by class of property

Illinoisans know they pay high property taxes, but what they may not know is just how big Illinois’ property tax revenues really are.

At $33 billion in annual revenues, property taxes are the single largest tax collected in Illinois, bigger than both income taxes ($27 billion) and sales taxes ($16 billion).

Part of the reason homeowners have felt such an acute increase in their tax burdens is due to an overall shift in statewide property taxes away from commercial and industrial properties to residential over the past 30 years.

In 1990, residential property owners paid 51 percent of Illinois’ $9.6 billion in total property taxes. Commercial owners paid 30 percent and all other owners (industrial, farm, railroad and mineral) paid 19 percent.

Today, homeowners pay 63 percent of Illinois’ $33.4 billion in total property taxes. Next biggest are commercial property owners, who pay 26 percent. Other property owners pay the remaining 11 percent.

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Freddy
1 year ago

Here’s an article from 2 years ago. Just some info not a comment for or against.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2020/01/08/what-the-illinois-supreme-court-said-about-pensionsand-why-it-matters/

JackBolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Freddy

Thanks. The simplemindness, i.e. narrow ruling, of the IL SC in lumping a COLA in with a earned pension suggests the outcome of pension insolvency is their desired path.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Freddy

Liz’s analysis is wrong. Yes the ILSC talks about the plain language of the pension clause but they also discuss the US contracts clause as well. Even without the pension clause, the contracts clause is still a hurdle the state would need to overcome. “In addition, because the state’s self-interest is at stake whenever it seeks to modify its own financial obligations, the United States Supreme Court has made clear that it is not appropriate to give the state’s legislature the same deference it would otherwise be afforded with regard to whether the impairment is reasonable and necessary to serve an… Read more »

Brock Landers
1 year ago

Fat, drunk, and government dependent is no way to go through life.

Deep in the Heart
1 year ago

It’s for the children. . . . Chicagoland residents in their 30’s are unable to save anything toward their retirement days. They are, howver, legally bound to contribute to the annual $200,000 household pension of the two kindly retired teachers down the block. Downstate residents in their 40’s are unable to save anything towards their retirement days. They are, however, legally bound to contribute to the $175,000 annual pension of the retired rural school superintendent down the street. Greedy public service unions have bribed . . .errr. . . given political contributions and votes to the extent that Illinois taxpayers… Read more »

Pat S.
1 year ago

Due partially to our urging, four of our five offspring now live somewhere other than Illinois. Their kids are getting a good education and the tax money they pay to their states support current services, not decades-old obligations. They pay far less in taxes and, imagine this, the states they live in are SOLVENT.
Go figure.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Pat S.

There ya go—nirvana truly exists!

Willowglen
1 year ago
Reply to  James

James – you raise a straw man. Pat S never made a claim to nirvana, merely to solvency and minimal competence. I recognize education majors receive almost no financial education, but surely you must concede that the financial situation in Illinois is abysmal. And anyone honest must address the raise taxes faction. Every recent tax increase has been accompanied by a significant increase in the pension debt, as the politicians who know nothing about economics or finance spend without forethought. Additional taxes are not a realistic way out. Moreover the loss of population combined with the people leaving making considerably… Read more »

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Willowglen

Oh, I could have sworn she was descriving nirvana. My error. The rest of your response has been hashed, rehashed and rehashed some more, so I’ll not address it here as its become tiresome reading.

Freddy
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Just a couple of questions.
Do you believe that lawmakers and policies they make should be in the best interests for all or at least most of its citizens not just a select few?
Also do you think considering the policies they make should include being good administers of public money?

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Freddy

Yes, but we are where we are. Wishing otherwise won’t make any difference. I also wish every person we encounter had some degree of selflessness, empathy, patience, and politeness to their basic character. Sadly, literally none of that is going to happen either. We are a society ever increasing the drum beat for civil war instead.

Freddy
1 year ago
Reply to  James

I also agree with that. The reason I asked that is with all the talk of pensions and funding/etc where are the representatives from the state in contract negotiations on behalf of the taxpayers who will ultimately foot part of the bill and the employees? No one from the state or local lawmakers are allowed in school negotiations. Neither are the media or local taxpayers. If lawmakers were truly concerned with short and long term ramifications of the funding they would have some sort of legal council at the table. Case in point Rockford school district budget is over $450M… Read more »

James
1 year ago
Reply to  Freddy

Sure, I can agree with that point of view. As for IL public pensioners the ILSC has declared them to have individual contracts with the state, meaning there is no collective union or sponsor to represent them for any changes to those contracts. I think I know a few such pensioners who might well agree to some changes for their individual contract IF the incentives were such that they could find a reason to agree to it. But, in all the years since the 2015 ILSC decision over-turning the last state attempt to autocratically reduce such contracts I’ve seen NO… Read more »

Indy
1 year ago

Move out of Illinois.
Or suffer.
No more excuses or sympathy.

JackBolly
1 year ago

Show me a influential Democrat that cares.

Marko
1 year ago
Reply to  JackBolly

JB Pritzker. He cares deeply…about his beachfront estate in Palm Beach FL.

Dave
1 year ago

Property taxes (and Covid policy) were a BIG reason I escaped Illinois for Tennessee in 2020. My current house in Knoxville has four times the assessed value of my prior home in Danville and my property taxes are less than HALF. TN also has no state income tax as well and yet they manage to generate a budget surplus every year. My advice is to get out of the dystopian hell-hole Illinois is becoming while you still can – there is no hope for reforming the corruption that drives the financial insanity.

JackBolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Dave

I am coming. The other shoe will drop in IL after Pritzker is re-elected.

Fed up neighbor
1 year ago
Reply to  JackBolly

But will Pritzker be re-elected legally

JackBolly
1 year ago

They don’t care – Pritzker legalized drop box voting.

Mike
1 year ago

Left Hellinois for Colorado, houses here are more expensive but they keep that value. I bought a house worth twice as much as my illinois home, has double the square footage than what I had, and my taxes are less than half of what I was paying. So happy I left that shithole.

John
1 year ago

I walked away from a $400,000 dollar house because my property taxes went from $1800 to $6700 per year. Couldn’t afford mortgage and taxes. Now bankrupt and moving out of this hellhole.

Ex Illini
1 year ago
Reply to  John

Good luck John. Hope it all works out for you.

John
1 year ago
Reply to  John

John, All the best. Because of high RE taxes, many folks are on layoff away from losing their homes.

Marie
1 year ago

Property taxes grow because hiring at the state level grows, benefits grow, perks grow, pensions grow and it goes on and on. Our daughter worked for the state for a period of time. She quit because most of the people there didn’t work. They came in when they wanted to, left when they wanted to and didn’t do very much while they were there so her Department was always behind. Work stacked up and no one wanted to talk about the work environment and those who were slacking. Building maintenance was a disaster. She was warned about which people to… Read more »

Ex Illini
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

That pretty much sums it up.

Illinois Entrepreneur
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

This is why the best and only viable policy is to just starve it and let it die. The public employee unions will try to slow down services to us to exert pressure to spend more, but we’ll just have to withstand it until these departments shrink.

But with the Democrats in a supermajority, this will never happen. We will only see contraction when the bonds won’t sell or the state cannot make an interest payment.

Rob M
1 year ago

It would be much easier to change the politicians and the rules that give public employee unions so much power.

Silverfox
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob M

In theory, yes, but with Democrats having a majority, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.

Marko
1 year ago
Reply to  Silverfox

If Gov fat fuq can have a 26 month emergency order the next should declare a never ending fiscal emergency and fire them all. The difference is on emergency is actually real.

Marko
1 year ago

Just fire them all and start elimination of programs and departments. hire back the decent ones only. We don’t need half the bloat anyways. This should be done in Chicago as well at the city level. We all know it’s a giant patronage army, kill it and send it back to the 19th century where it belongs along side Tammany Hall and the first ward balls and Irish mob bosses.

Rick
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

In the 80’s I did a computer contract for CPS admin. It was the same then. Everyone read the morning paper and chain smoked at their desks until lunch. Then took a 2 hour lunch, then watched the clock trying to stay awake until 5. The person I trained had fingernails so long she literally could not use the keyboard, and it was her job. Totally dysfunctional.

Marko
1 year ago
Reply to  Rick

That mook is now drawing 2 pensions and living large in Az or FL

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Marko

Maybe has a place in both.

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago

dont u have some toilets to scrub in the boys restroom where you’re the janitor?

Deep in the Heart
1 year ago
Reply to  Marie

I’ll occasionally check out Capitol Fax and posters whose names identify them as having a state job find the time to post multiple times daily, often on numerous topics. Must be nice.

James
1 year ago

Oh, you must mean just as self-employed debtsor does here, too. Yeah, doing what you want when you want is delightful.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Except when you do it on somebody else’s dime.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Sure, I agree. Never did that, I can assure you.

Susan
1 year ago

Property tax rate in Illinois communities is driven to outlier high level due to two key factors: TIF, and lack of oversight/legal enforcement mechanisms to protect fairly-assessed taxpayers from unfairly-underassessed taxpayers. If underassessed property were fairly assessed, the rate would drop. (P-tax rate is levy divided by assessed value of taxable property. If the denominator rose as a function of raising the unfairly low assessments, the rate would drop). Example: 50 million levy divided by 1billion assessed property value = .05 or 5% tax rate. But suppose there were 250 million of underassessed property: 50 million levy divided by 1.25… Read more »

Fed up neighbor
1 year ago

Springfield and the minions will do absolutely nothing until we the people turn the heat on them to force them to do something until then nada folks absolutely nada.

Honest Jerk
1 year ago

These charts more than anything explain why Illinois is in a death spiral. It should have a massive surplus based on what it has been taking from its property owners, but instead it carries massive debt. Imagine what the data will look like after another 10 years! On a personal note, I know several young couples in Illinois that were so proud and excited to buy their first home. I have to act happy for them when I know they just made a huge mistake. Issues with money are a top reason for failed marriages. Sometimes you need to connect… Read more »

Rob M
1 year ago
Reply to  Honest Jerk

It’s time for a referendum. In Massachusetts taxes are capped at 2.5%, or inflation, whichever is greater. With honest valuation, it could slow down the growth and lighten the burden over time. This could also work the budgeting of the state. With level spending for three years, the state could slow growth and as revenues grow, pay down debt. They can allocate resources any way they like, There’s plenty of money, it’s just not allocated properly. The biggest hurdle is pensions. All increases should be eliminated for three years. Cap payouts at 100,000. I’d use the same 2.5% or CPI,… Read more »

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob M

All increases should be eliminated for 3 years. – Not allowed Cap payouts at 100k. – Not allowed I’d use the same 2.5% or CPI, whichever is less. – Not allowed Taxing pensions over 75K. – Are you also suggesting taxing 401k withdrawals and private pensions? Probably not allowed without also taxing other retiree income. Now come up with solutions that can actually be constitutional. If people want lower property taxes then they will need to cut spending where it is allowed and also raise taxes elsewhere. While Blue ribbon is not going to cut it, either are unconstitutional laws… Read more »

Rob M
1 year ago

Your pension paid last then! Why not change the Constitution and then abolish pensions for the politicians. They’ve been negligent and don’t deserve them.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob M

The taxpayers have been negligent. They elected these same leaders and as such are responsible for payment.

The United States Supreme Court has made clear that the United States Constitution “bar[s] Government from forcing some people alone to bear public burdens which, in all fairness and justice, should be borne by the public as a whole [citations].” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) United States v. Winstar Corp., 518 U.S. 839, 883 (1996).

All Illinois taxpayers owe this debt.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

The keywords here are “in all fairness and justice”.

Bankrupting the state is “fair and just”?

And you couldn’t even teach children how to read.

Last edited 1 year ago by ProzacPlease
Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Those were the unanimous words of the Illinois Supreme Court justices. If the state owes the debt, then yes it is more fair and justice to have all taxpayers pay the debt rather than attempt to steal pensions as a way to pay the debt. The ILSC is the arbiter of fair and just not ProzacPlease from the inter web.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

Elected justices, fully bought and paid for by public employee unions.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

So public employees, who make up a few percentage points of the electorate elected all 7 justices? Wow, they are talented. They deserve even more money if they have those special skills. Then again, the constitution is crystal clear. Pensions can’t be diminished or impaired. There is no work around PP. Let’s see which one seems more fair and just. Pay public employees what you promised them decades earlier. Since we don’t have enough set aside we will collect additional taxes from all Illinois taxpayers, including pensioners. or Admit that we owe public employees their pensions but try to steal… Read more »

James
1 year ago

I think you know all too well that you are wasting your time with this guy and his surely numerous supporters here. Essentially, they are member’s of this website’s Flat Earth Society, dreaming up every conspiracy and/or slick trick imaginable to support a particular point of view no matter the contrarian argument. A contract is only a CONTRACT if it applies to them, I’d guess. All others are created by some sort of imagined conspiracy that to them makes such a contract clearly breakable. I bet such a person also has numerous other favored go-to conspiracies such as who killed… Read more »

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

So long as I am a resident of Illinois, I am bound by this inviolable CONTRACT. But if I move 5 miles over the border, I am magically released from this unbreakable CONTRACT. By moving, I have unilaterally opted out, increasing the burden on the other “parties” without their consent.

None of this would be remotely allowed in a real CONTRACT. This is only called a CONTRACT because it gets public employee unions what they want (or they think it will).

Last edited 1 year ago by ProzacPlease
James
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

That’s very interesting, but the contract in question pertains to IL citizens rather than you personally just as is the case with the IL Constitution. If you don’t like what IL offers, then you can seek to change it or move elsewhere, the easier and quicker pathway to personal happiness in most cases, I presume. The same sort of pathway exists for many other kinds of contracts which can be sold or otherwise agreeably dismissed if you accept the consequences. They don’t have to be til-death-do-us-part obligations for you.

ProzacPlease
1 year ago
Reply to  James

Yes, I can move elsewhere as you point out. The very fact that I can do so negates the idea that this is a contract. There is no entity “Illinois citizens” that can pay your pension. There are only individuals who continue to pay taxes.

James
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Most other “real” contracts are no more secure than that either. There is always the assumption that the buyer can fulfill his stated obligations. Some can’t and don’t. The seller always has to weigh the odds of that happening.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

“I have unilaterally opted out, increasing the burden on the other “parties” without their consent.”

If you owned a home, you sold that burden to the next homeowner. Although the new home owner didn’t actually buy the burden. They purchased your home at a discount to factor in the higher taxes they must now pay. Your reduced equity is your payment to release yourself from the contract.

You are aware of these additional costs and yet you remain. Clearly, leaving this debt behind is not as easy as everyone proclaims.

Last edited 1 year ago by Pensions Paid First
Marko
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

And let’s not discount the fact that in 1971 the unions in IL. were run by and staffed with very real, very dangerous, mobsters. Unions literally were the mob. Can a state make a contract with an organized criminal enterprise?

ProzacPlease
1 year ago

You have never answered my initial question. Do you consider it to be “fair and just” that people who were not even born 50 years ago should shoulder this burden, to the point that the state will be unable to function? You see that as the virtuous course here? You sound like you are demanding your pound of flesh, no matter the consequences, without the slightest willingness to find a compromise. That didn’t work out so well for Shylock as I recall.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

Is it fair and just that people that weren’t born pay for past services? In an ideal world we would pay for the services as we use them. Since Illinois didn’t do that, the children must pay for their parents mistakes if they continue to live in Illinois. The debt exists because earlier generations didn’t pay their debt not because public employees are owed. Why would pensioners compromise on money that is theirs? So your taxes don’t increase? Look at all the additional spending that state has initiated recently. Do you honestly think any savings from your “compromise” would benefit… Read more »

Marko
1 year ago

Wow I can’t wait to watch all you slobs get a 50% haircut.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Marko

Well in that case Marko, I can’t wait for you to pay more in taxes. You just keep waiting while I’ll laugh every time thieves like you need to pay more towards pensions. Keep in mind you might be waiting some time. Puerto Rico had absolutely nothing left in the pension funds and they are still getting paid. Detroit took a cut of 5.5%. Where are these 50% hair cuts that you so desperately desire? Remember that 120k pension will be paying out 161k in 10 years. That Detroit hair cut will still leave that pensioner with 152k per year.… Read more »

debtsor
1 year ago

Then again, the constitution is crystal clear. Pensions can’t be diminished or impaired. There is no work around PP.

ROE IS SETTLED LAW!!! SUPER PRECEDENT! PENSIONS TOO! CAN’T EVER BE CHANGED!!

Last edited 1 year ago by debtsor
debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

That’s why the legislature, in the middle of the night, released new supreme court maps, to ensure a democratic majority, because knew which way the wind was blowing, and a Republican majority would overturn the pension laws, just as a Republican majority on the court overturned Roe.

Pension reform is coming one way another. What ever reason: equity, contracts clause, bankruptcy, unconstitutionality of the amendment, you name it, it’s getting fixed.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

All justices, including the 3 republicans on the ILSC, struck down pension reform. Your delusion about Republicans saving Illinois is strong. When’s this reform happening debtsor? What’s your time frame? Just keep in mind that in 10 years that pension will be 34% higher than today. Maybe you’ll get that Detroit style pension cut of 5.5% and that pension will only be 26% higher? In 20 years, all the new retirees will be tier 2. These pensions are barely above the safe harbor provisions. No hope in cutting these and if anything they will probably need to increase. Times a… Read more »

debtsor
1 year ago

BUT ROE WAS DECIDED BY A REPUBLICAN COURT!! THERE WERE 6 JUDGES APPOINTED BY REPUBLICANS AND 3 BY DEMOCRATS! FUTURE REPUBLICANS WILL NEVER OVERTURN ROE! SUPERPRECEDENT!! In all seriousness, I don’t know the timeline, but realistically, the pension is a man made problem and requires man made solution. You’re the one sticking your head into the sand not recognizing that the day will come, likely later than sooner, where pensions will be cut. Even just recently, we all thought we’d be the last state in the union to take off masks (remember this in November!) but one judge downstate issues… Read more »

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  debtsor

I’ve never stated that they will never be cut only that they will be the last thing cut. If they are cut it will be small in comparison to other debt holders. Detroit, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico….have all shown us that cuts to pensions are not what you describe. When will this collapse take place debtsor? The clock is ticking. In the meantime, pensioners will continue to get their 3% compounded increase. That 10k a month pension will be 13.4k per month in 10 years. A Detroit style cut will only leave Frank and his condo with 12.7k per month.… Read more »

Ataraxis
1 year ago

Amazing how the Seven Deadly Sins accurately describe Illinois state pensioners:
Greed
Pride
Wrath
Envy
Lust
Gluttony
Sloth

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Ataraxis

Greed – Getting paid what you are owed and what was agreed to is not greed. Pride – After 35 years of service, pensioners should feel proud. Unlike the people that show great pride in their attempts to steal pensioners money. Wrath – Uncontrolled feelings of anger or hatred??? That better defines many of the commenters on this board that would like to steal pensions. Envy – Again, this better describes those jealous of those that have pensions. Not a pretty look. Lust – An unbridled yearning to steal pensions. Again, so called reformers fit this category. Their desire to… Read more »

nixit
1 year ago

What about 32 years of service with 2 years on accrued sick days?

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  nixit

What about it? Did the school or agency offer up a deal that if you didn’t use your sick time it would then be applied to pension credit? Sounds like a fair contract that both parties agreed upon.

Are you envious nixit?

JackBolly
1 year ago

Wow! That’s how crooks think – because I can it’s ok.

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  JackBolly

No that’s how rational humans behave. Exchanging labor for pay and benefits. But you go right ahead and trade your labor for less than you can get or sell your home for less money so that the buyer gets a better deal.

If one breaks the law and thinks they can get away with it then that would be how a crook thinks. No laws are broken so it’s just a capitalist trying to maximize their worth. Don’t be a socialist JB.

Jane
1 year ago

Sweetie…the rational pensioner would see that the current payouts are unsustainable, and would support efforts to MAKE them sustainable. Your refusal to see reality makes you irrational to the extreme.

Thee Jabroni
1 year ago

SLOTH,describes you and most public employees

Pensions Paid First
1 year ago
Reply to  Thee Jabroni

Jealous thief most accurately describes you. Pensioners worked for their money and now it’s time for the taxpayers to pay up. Don’t be a deadbeat Jabroni.

Keep paying those property taxes on your townhouse. That money belongs to pensioners.

Jane
1 year ago

It belongs to the pensioner until it is no longer there, darlin’. You need working people in IL to support your pension scheme. The price of your pension scheme is driving people out of IL. How is this helping you? 😉

Ataraxis
1 year ago

The Seven Deadly Sins hit too close to home for Parasites Paid First. But no worries PPF, Karma will settle this one.

Just remember everyone, except for state law enforcement, the easiest day someone has worked in the private sector is still harder than the hardest day a state employee has ever worked.

Jane
1 year ago

Hunny. There is no way on God’s green earth Illinois’ pension scheme is NOT going to fail, and fail big. No one owes you anything. We give you this generous pension, for now. But soon the system will break and all your pleas of what we ‘owe’ you won’t matter one bit. And yes, we are all sinners….you and me. That doesn’t negate math. 😉

Marko
1 year ago
Reply to  Jane

These knuckleheads don’t get that IL is sovereign. IL can just refuse to pay, even if the supreme court compels them to, and nobody can do anything about it. All it takes is political will.

debtsor
1 year ago
Reply to  Marko

And pensioners can only sue the state for damages in the court of claims too! Hahahah

Susan
1 year ago
Reply to  Rob M

Property tax rate cap is the only hope for non-political elite to survive Illinois. Schools will then need to survive on what the tax cap allows; if that means paying every dime collected to pension obligations so be it.

John
1 year ago
Reply to  Honest Jerk

If I could give one piece of advice to anyone considering a move to Illinois it would be don’t.

state_pension_millionaires
1 year ago

Excellent research/article. Once again shows you how out of control Ill-Chicago politicans are…and how us non-public union taxpayers are treated like chattel/trash.

Illinois-#1-2 in tax burden; #1-2 in political corruption; #51, behind PR in fiscal condition; rampant crime; and “owned” by public unions—not right… and the politicians will not fix it, for real, unless forced to.

Wally
1 year ago

Half the population is brainwashed into thinking the Dems are doing a great job for the middle class and don’t do any research into the financials of other states. The other half want to leave but aren’t ready yet. Lot of hassles and planning for us to leave.

Jane
1 year ago
Reply to  Wally

We’re very close to leaving to Iowa. Close enough to feel like home and stay near folks we love.

Susan
1 year ago

Woodstock IL stats: 8% of median household income spent on median priced homes’ property taxes.
Median Home value $175,000. Median household income $70,000. Homestead exemption savings $650. Property tax rate 3.6%.
Sources: US Census Quick Facts City Data, McHenry County Clerk.

This is disastrous amount of household income demanded in return for negative value (-Home price devaluation due to tax rate capitalization, mediocre education and social service provision), especially in light of the new inflationary demands for food, energy and transportation spending.
Local Households need to give up savings and discretionary spending in order to pay property taxes.

mmack
1 year ago

I was a babe in the woods on taxes when I bought my first house in Will County in the mid 1990s. Even then I was definitely above the 1990 median, and probably above the mid 1990s median. And this was on a little ranch house. The shocking eye opener was getting married and jointly buying a house in Will County in the early 2000s. We were WELL above the 2020 median fifteen years before that figure was calculated. When we left Silly-nois five years ago splitting the total amount by 12 we were at $1K/month on property tax payments… Read more »

Wally
1 year ago

Our main reason for moving from DuPage to SC was taxes, property, sales, and hidden taxes. Automatic $10K savings on property, only 7% sales tax. 5 entities drawing in SC vs. 21 taxing bodies in DuPage. No townships, mosquito districts, etc. The most galling part was what do you get for the taxes you pay when 25% and climbing go to pensions? Excuses about jobs and family are not good enough. Area here is booming in housing, cyber, health care, and trades. People in IL don’t believe it when describing financial differences.Hate to phrase it this way, but you have… Read more »

Tubal-Caine
1 year ago
Reply to  Wally

Moved to Simpsonville SC late year after living in Frankfort for 18 yrs. Born 1948 and raised in Woodlawn and remember the IL sales tax was 2%! The accumulated property taxes in Frankfort amounted to about one half the value of my house. Violent crime came from black areas such as red light camera municipalities such as Matteson and Richton Park. Matteson just opened the state’s largest marijuana farm and the village leaders cited it as the future of IL. Here I can leisurely play with my machine shop, shoot my guns and go to church without dealing with crime… Read more »

JackBolly
1 year ago
Reply to  Wally

Thanks. Other than TN and FL am looking seriously into SC. In the City of Peoria there is effectively a ‘rain tax’ and a ‘flush tax’. When I tell people this out of state, they are like ‘What in the heck!?’

Ex Illini
1 year ago

I remember laughing out loud when Pritzker announced his committee to address real estate taxes. Of course it was a complete waste of time. There’s nothing that can be done at this point. If you need to stay in Illinois, the only way to lower your real estate taxes is to downsize significantly. If you don’t need to stay in Illinois, there are 49 other states that offer lower real estate taxes. Try not to think about the terrible level of services you receive for those ridiculous taxes either. That money goes to pay the egregious public pensions.

marko
1 year ago
Reply to  Ex Illini

If we fired half our “public servants” at the state level nobody would even notice. The service is crap anyways and like poster above pointed out, mosquito districts? Really? Do the mosquitoes have to social distance like the birds do now? Just one example of the democrat parasite patronage army destroying this state.

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