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ALREADY
AMONG THE NATION’S HIGHEST, DUPAGE PROPERTY TAX RATES TO INCREASE THIS
YEAR
Illinois Policy Institute
With hundreds of taxing bodies in their
county and inaction from Springfield, DuPage homeowners will soon see
yet another property tax increase.
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 Illinoisans are struggling with the highest property taxes in the nation, and
it’s about to get even tougher for homeowners in the state’s second largest
county.
DuPage County property owners are going to pay an average 1.76 percent more on
their tax bills this year, in a county with some of the highest property tax
rates in the state, according to the Daily Herald.
This won’t be a welcome sight, as DuPage County taxpayers have already been
voting with their feet. Between July 2015 ̶ July 2016, DuPage lost more than
9,000 residents in migration to other states. And taxpayers have been explicit
in their reasoning. A Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll released in
October 2016 revealed that taxes were the top reason Illinoisans wanted to flee
the state.
DuPage taxpayers in particular sent another message to county government in
November 2016 when they voted in favor of government consolidation on a
nonbinding ballot question. DuPage County residents’ property tax bills are
driven up in part because the county is home to 379 tax districts – a problem
not uncommon in a state with nearly 7,000 units of local government, the most of
any state in the country.
To its credit, DuPage has made efforts to consolidate. In 2012, DuPage started
its Accountability Consolidation Transparency Initiative, or ACT Initiative, to
promote consolidating government entities within the county, a model the rest of
the state could follow. But consolidation efforts at the state level have been
slower. Bipartisan legislation did pass the House 93-19 last year to allow for
greater local government consolidation, but was not moved in the Senate before
the session ended. The bill, now House Bill 3135, was reintroduced for the new
General Assembly, though.
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 And lawmakers in Springfield haven’t moved toward a true,
permanent property tax freeze for the entire state. The House passed
a property tax freeze bill in April 2016, but it did not apply to
home-rule governments, which account for 7.8 million Illinoisans, or
more than 60 percent of taxpayers. The Senate’s current “grand
bargain” negotiations include a two-year property tax freeze, but
the plan would do nothing to stem the things that drive up local
costs, such as collective bargaining and unfunded state mandates.
That temporary property tax freeze is also attached to a permanent
income tax increase, an unacceptable deal given that Illinoisans
face the highest overall tax burden in the country.
If none of these reforms – like a true property tax freeze and local
government consolidation – are enacted, rising property taxes like
that in DuPage County will continue to be commonplace, and more
taxpayers may head for the borders. Lawmakers in Springfield and
local officials should work quickly to provide relief to struggling
homeowners.
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