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 It’s a robbery even Kevin
McCallister couldn’t prevent.
In the small Cook County village of Winnetka, Illinois, sits the filming site of
John Hughes’ 1990 Christmas classic, “Home Alone.” Located in New Trier
Township, the house is something of a local legend as it made Chicago-area news
when it changed owners in 2012.
But one look at the property taxes alone would send most running out of the
neighborhood.
In 2016, the property tax bill was $36,500 and in 2017 the bill dipped to less
than $33,600, according to the Cook County Assessor’s Office.
However, this drop off is little consolation considering how much the owners
have paid in the years since the movie’s release. Since 1990, the owners of 671
Lincoln Avenue have paid more than $783,000 in property taxes when adjusting for
inflation.
 And though the owners of the “Home Alone” house have paid through the nose when
it comes to property taxes, other Illinois residents have it even worse. Cook
County is the eighth most expensive county in Illinois for property taxes. The
highest property tax bills come in the collar counties, all five of which have
higher median property tax rates than Cook County.
The county with the highest property taxes in the state is Lake County, where
the median property tax bill is nearly $7,000 a year. And on top of being the
most expensive in the state, it’s also one of the most expensive in the nation,
ranking 21st out of more than 3,000 counties across the U.S.
Over the past 50 years, Illinois property taxes have grown 2.5 times faster than
inflation, 14 times faster than Illinois’ population, and 3.3 times faster than
the typical Illinoisan’s household income.
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Many politicians at the
Statehouse have floated the idea of a property tax freeze. However,
too many of these proposals have exempted increases to pay for debt
service and skyrocketing pension costs, meaning homeowners would
enjoy little protection from rising bills. And hardly any have
shielded residents from local governments hiking other taxes and
fees to get around the freeze.
Even if property taxes
were truly frozen, lawmakers would still have a lot of work to do.
Some of the nation’s highest property taxes would still be putting
the hurt on Illinois homeowners – 1 out of 6 are already seriously
underwater on their mortgages.
Illinois needs comprehensive property tax reform that addresses the
cost drivers behind Illinois’ high cost of government.
Illinois’ tax structure punishes middle-class residents who choose
to become homeowners by constantly raising property taxes in order
to pay for Illinois’ expensive and redundant layers of local
government. The Land of Lincoln has nearly 7,000 units of local
government, the most in the nation.
And those various layers of government require a paid staff of
government employees, receiving salaries, health care benefits and
pensions. All of which adds on to residents’ property taxes.
But despite these high property taxes, local government pension debt
is skyrocketing. From 2010 to 2016, Illinois’ local pension debt
increased by nearly 49 percent, going up to nearly $57 billion in
2016, up from $38.2 billion in 2010.
And in addition to hiking property taxes, municipalities around the
state have resorted to implementing new local taxes on everything
from gas to prepared food.
If Illinoisans want a lower property tax bill in time for next
year’s holiday season, they should tell policymakers to embrace
aggressive local government consolidation as well as other
cost-saving measures. Otherwise Illinois homeowners will continue to
feel robbed.
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