There’s still a good chance a property tax relief plan will emerge in the spring legislative session as a way to increase voter turnout in November to change the state’s Constitution to allow for a graduated income tax.
However, what that plan will look like is still anyone’s guess. With little fanfare, the Property Tax Relief Tax Force issued its report two days before Christmas.
The report didn’t attract much media attention, and the one headline about it, from Crain’s Chicago Business, was “Partisan bickering threatens to derail property tax relief plan.” The 36-page report (more like 26 pages if you take away the table of contents and appendices) is a mishmash, and in some instances, contradictory set of ideas, especially about PTELL districts.
The report recommends merging elementary and high school districts over a 10-year period as a way to find “efficiencies of scale.”
The report also focuses on TIF districts, including suggestions like shortening the time frame from 23 to 10 to 15 years, as well as tightening the definition of blighted. There is also a recommendation to expand the sales tax to cover more services to provide a new revenue stream to fund schools and shift the burden away from local property taxes. One idea in the report went as far as to completely eliminate the use of property taxes to fund public schools.
Immediately, Republicans went on the offensive about the report, saying their recommendations weren’t included and the findings were not properly approved by the full task force.
The Democratic Chair of the task force denies the Republican claims. According to Crain’s, Rep. Sam Yingling, D-Round Lake, said in an email to Republicans the report was based on recommendations from task force subcommittees, and the four overall task force co-chairs will now solicit comment from their caucuses before taking final action.
Clearly, political gamesmanship is in full swing on both sides of the aisle, with everything centered on the passage of the graduated income tax in November.
At this point, we will have to wait and see what ideas regarding property tax relief gain traction and which ones lack support. The report did little to answer that.
To read the full report, click here. The first half is background on the property tax system in Illinois, and the second is about various ideas to reduce property taxes.
Thanks for reading.
Diane Hendren
Director of Governmental Relations
Illinois Association of School Administrators
&
David Wood
Governmental Relations Specialist
Illinois Association of School Business Officials