CHICAGO, Illi. (DDN) – A new proposal in the Illinois Statehouse aims to eliminate property taxes for eligible homeowners who have lived in and paid taxes on their residence for a minimum of 30 years.
State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, emphasized that at some point, individuals need to take responsibility for their own property.
“This country is founded upon freedom and property rights and at some point, you have to be able to own your property,” said Anderson. “This [bill] is a way to keep people in Illinois. If they own a home for 20 years and they have an option of moving to another state because they’re tired of being taxed in Illinois, now all of a sudden, maybe [with the passage of this bill], they hang out another 10 years and now they don’t have to pay property tax. That keeps them in the state and buying goods in the state and paying taxes in a different way.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Illinois experienced a decline of 32,826 residents between July 2022 and July 2023. The state has experienced a population decline for the 10th year in a row.
Anderson thinks there might be some resistance.
“I posted on Facebook about this and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback already. I tend to agree with the people that are in the comment section that are upset, that are saying, ‘well, you know, I’ve owned my house for 20 years because I paid for it in cash or I paid it off early, why shouldn’t I be able to not pay property taxes?’ I get it,” said Anderson. “This [bill] is a starting point. If we can start somewhere and just get some kind of agreement that at some point, whether it’s 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, whatever the agreement on the time period is, if we can agree that at some point you’ve paid enough money and you actually own your property and you don’t have to pay anything anymore, that’s the starting point I want to get to here.”
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State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Cherry Valley, is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1862.
The proposal states that individuals who have lived in the same homestead property as their main home for at least 30 continuous years as of January 1 of the taxable year will not have to pay property taxes.
Anderson states that the bill is not applicable to income-generating properties.
The bill defines “qualified homestead property” as a single-family residence that serves as the principal residence and domicile for a qualified taxpayer.
Anderson stated that the bill was not solely designed to offer property tax relief for residents of Illinois, who have the highest property taxes in the country.
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“If I lived in Texas or Tennessee where property taxes are super low, I would also introduce this legislation. You have to be able to say, ‘yes, I own this property and they can’t take it away from me,’” said Anderson.
Anderson is skeptical about the chances of the legislation passing.
“I’m hoping that I can get some friends on the other side of the aisle that just agree with the concept of, ‘oh, my gosh you’re right, we do have to be able to own our property at some point and not pay anything else.’ If the compromise is to go to 50 years, fine, I’ll take that starting point,” said Anderson.
Reference: Bill would eliminate property taxes for Illinois homeowners after 30 years of residency
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