Illinois Republicans and Democrats Clash Over Property Tax Relief as Millionaires Tax Battle Intensifies

Report Finds Cook County Property Taxes Outpacing Inflation, Wage Growth

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas released a report on Monday that found property taxes in the state's largest county have grown faster than inflation and wage growth over the past 30 years. Across all taxing bodies in the county, property taxes are up 182 percent from $6.8 billion in 1995 to $19.2 billion in 2025. The report, titled How State Law Failed to Stop Decades of Skyrocketing Property Taxes, concluded loopholes in the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law, or PTELL, have allowed the tax burden to climb.

The law was passed in the 1990s to limit property tax increases in non-home rule communities to the lesser of 5 percent or the rate of inflation, but it contains several workarounds and allows home rule communities like Chicago greater authority to raise property taxes.

While property taxes are set locally, local units of government are limited by what they are allowed to do, by what the state allows them to do, Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, said at a news conference on Wednesday. We have the controls.

Blame Game: Republicans Point to Democrats, Governor Blames School Districts

Illinois Republicans said Democratic policies are to blame for rising property taxes in the state after Gov. JB Pritzker said earlier this week school districts bear part of the responsibility. The blame game comes after Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas released a report on Monday that found property taxes in the state's largest county have grown faster than inflation and wage growth over the past 30 years.

Ugaste and House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, blamed majority-party Democrats for not considering property tax reform while imposing unfunded mandates on schools and local governments along with chronic underfunding by the state.

Local governments have also faced increased costs from inflation in recent years. We Republicans are trying to do our jobs and we are certainly not passing the blame to locals, McCombie said, adding the blame lies with Pritzker and his policies.

Responding to the report Monday, Pritzker told reporters in Chicago the problem lies with school districts. The report found 55 percent of the increase in Cook County was coming from school districts.

Annual state funding for K-12 schools has increased by $2.5 billion since the funding formula was revamped in 2017, two years before Pritzker took office.

School boards did not take the hint, Pritzker said. And so, they have continued to ratchet up property taxes over and over and over again, and that has led to a continued very high property tax burden on homeowners across the state.

Bears Stadium Bill Raises Questions About Tax Relief

However, amid tight conditions, the fiscal year 2026 budget Pritzker signed last year excluded $43 million in new property tax relief funds that have typically been part of annual funding increases for K-12 schools. Those funds were also not included in Pritzker's budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.

While school districts accounted for the largest share of the increase, the report found increases throughout local government. Taxes in Chicago, including Chicago Public Schools, have increased 211 percent while they are up 160 percent in municipalities outside the city. However, property taxes levied by Cook County itself only increased by 26 percent while inflation has risen 91 percent and average wages 161 percent.

The report also comes as lawmakers consider a significant property tax measure sought by the Chicago Bears to help build a stadium in northwest Cook County. The legislation being pushed by the Bears would allow the developer of a megaproject, such as the Bears, to negotiate a payment in lieu of taxes with local governments where the project is located.

The bill would allow megaproject developers to pay a lower tax property tax rate, but many lawmakers in both parties fear it will pass the tax burden to other homeowners and businesses.

If we can fix property taxes for a stadium, we can fix it for every other taxpayer in Illinois too, Ugaste said.

Millionaires Tax Proposal Could Fund Property Tax Relief and Public Education

One idea popular with some Democrats is taxing millionaires and directing the revenue toward property tax relief. Such a tax, if levied on income, would require approval from voters to amend the state constitution, which currently requires a flat tax regardless of income. Voters rejected a graduated income tax amendment in 2020, but lawmakers have until early May to pass a resolution placing another one on the ballot this November.

Pritzker said the tax could help, but has not indicated it is a priority, and it would be one of several reforms necessary to reduce property taxes. McCombie said millionaires would just move out of Illinois to avoid the tax.

Instead, Republicans said Democrats must consider reforms that would lower property taxes throughout the state and complained that none of their bills have received consideration. Ugaste said House Bill 9 would lower property taxes statewide by $3.5 billion by establishing a program that would award property tax relief grants to school districts in exchange for limiting levy increases. The bill does not dedicate a revenue source for the grant program.

He has also proposed House Bill 1323, which would prohibit local governments from rolling over bond payments to other projects once the project they were approved for is complete. He also wants to require that referendums to raise property taxes be voted on only during a general election, when turnout is higher.

Ugaste said he believes there is bipartisan support for addressing the problem despite his bills not getting considered. I have heard from people that they want to address property taxes, he said. They know we need to do something. It is just they have not gotten there to do it. And it should not be partisan it should be something were all willing to do sit down and come up with the best ideas.

House Speaker Backs Millionaires Tax, Democrats Split on Allocation

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch says he favors a proposed 3 percent tax on those making more than $1 million a year, with at least some of the proceeds going toward property tax relief.

Welch is endorsing a proposed 3 percent tax on those making more than $1 million annually, but there is a split among House Democrats on how much of the potential $4.5 billion yearly windfall should fund property tax relief.

On the table are two competing measures that would put the question of a so-called millionaires tax on the November ballot as an amendment to the Illinois constitution.

One of the proposed amendments offered by state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, would allocate all of the funds toward property tax relief in the form of $1,500 rebates per property owner. A competing plan by state Rep. Natalie Manley, D-Joliet, would allocate half of the millionaires tax's proceeds to public schools and the rest toward property tax relief. Neither bill has been put to a House vote as lawmakers barrel toward a May 3 deadline to get constitutional amendment proposals passed in order to be on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

In an interview with WBEZ, the speaker did not endorse either plan, saying there are lots of conversations still being had. But he made his backing of a millionaires tax crystal clear.

I am a big supporter of the fact that those who can pay more should pay more, Welch said. If we can come to some type of consensus on how to get it done and where the money should go, I want to be a part of that.

One Area Republicans Are Not Looking to Target

One area Republicans are not looking to target: Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, districts. The report found the number of TIF districts in Cook County has grown from 154 to 418 in the last 30 years and the taxes collected in them have grown 1,034 percent. But McCombie said they are an important economic development tool for local governments.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.