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Senate Bill 2086 seeks to raise the income limit for the
Low-Income Senior Citizens Assessment Freeze Homestead Exemption
to $75,000 for taxable year 2025. State Sen. Chris Balkema,
R-Champaign, is the sponsor.
“The seniors, those on fixed incomes, the high property taxes
hurt the worst. So this is an attempt to provide them a little
bit of relief,” said Balkema.
Under current law, seniors can apply for their assessed value to
be frozen, but the income parameters are “low,” according to
Balkema.
“It's a Band-Aid approach, and it picks at the areas of the
population that are vulnerable. On the other hand, if we keep
picking at that, then we're left with everybody else to pay the
bigger share, which isn't fair either,” said Balkema. “We've got
to fix the problem.”
The Senate Revenue Committee has to address the bill by April
11.
Balkema’s bill mirrors Senate Bill 1862 from state Sen. Neil
Anderson, R-Andalusia. Anderson’s bill aims to eliminate
property taxes for Illinois homeowners after 30 years.
“Me being in my first term down here, I'm much more hoping that
we can build the relationships across the aisle to work on the
overall issue, which is school funding … and the other big
elephants in the room that are needed in order to get property
taxes under control,” said Balkema.
Local governments and school districts are the primary
beneficiaries of property tax revenue in Illinois. Over 60% of
property tax revenue goes to fund K-12 public education.
Balkema touted lowering property taxes four years in a row while
serving as the Grundy County Board chair.
“We lowered the actual request [property tax levy] because we
just tightened the budgets. While I'm going to push that at the
state level, I'm also pushing revenue increases in terms of new
growth, new business,” said Balkema.
The Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), like the
Senior Citizens Homestead Exemption, aims to reduce the tax
burden by limiting how much local governments can increase
property tax levies in certain areas. |
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