Kane County Reporter

Dan Ugaste wonders how lawmakers in Springfield can keep a straight face when they claim to serve the will of the people.

“I talk with voters every day and the thing I hear most is that people want to leave the state and the main reason for that are these out-of-control property taxes,” Ugaste told the Kane County Reporter. “It amazes me that not only aren’t lawmakers talking about trying to fix the problem, but there are some actually pushing raising taxes even more.”

Economists for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago recently proposed a property tax increase that would raise taxes by nearly 50 percent over the next 30 years to combat the state’s pension debt. The DuPage Policy Journal reports the plan would increase ad valorem taxes on a home valued at $500,000 by roughly $5,000.

Richard Johnson

“This is a recipe for more disaster,” said Ugaste, who is running against Democrat Richard Johnson for the 65th District seat. “We have to start lowering taxes and reigning in spending, otherwise we will continue to lose population, which only compounds the issues we have with too-high property taxes.”

Illinois homeowners already pay the highest property tax rates in the country at 2.67 of a home’s value, according to the Illinois Policy Institute (IPI).

Potential tax increases might not end with the proposed property tax hike, as Ford, Lake, Kane, Frankfort and Will counties will have a 1-percent sales tax referendum this November as well.

In Will County, most of the additional revenue from the sales tax is earmarked for local school districts, with more than a dozen schools endorsing the referendum, IPI states.

The hike would put some residents’ overall tax burden on par with the 10.25 percent rates paid by many in Chicago, home to the highest combined sales tax rate in the country. In Frankfort, the sales tax rate would jump from 7 percent to 8 percent.

“All this unnecessary taxing across the state makes for a dim future,” Ugaste said. “Again, we don’t have a revenue problem in Illinois, we just need to be more efficient with what we have.”

The 65th House District includes Batavia, Burlington, Dundee, Elgin, Geneva, Grafton, Hampshire, Plato, Rutland and St. Charles.