By KEVIN BESSLER
Illinois Radio Network
Despite being criticized for being a waste of time, a new commission will be created Jan. 1, to evaluate Illinois’ property tax system.
State Rep. Mary Beth Canty’s legislation creates the commission that will include members of the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
“There is a belief that that system is inequitable and we would like to do an independent study to figure out if that’s true, and if so we will have recommendations on how to make adjustments,” said Canty, D-Arlington Heights.
The law provides that the Department of Revenue may also “determine whether the existing property tax levy, assessment, appeal and collection process is reasonable and fair and may issue recommendations to improve that process.”
State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, pointed out during floor debate that a similar study was conducted after being created in 2019, but nothing came out of it.
“This isn’t rocket science,” said Halbrook. “We’re not trying to put a man on the moon here. You could pull ten people in and by tomorrow morning we could have an answer to what needs to be done here to reform this system. We want to do another bill that will do nothing and go nowhere.”
Numerous lawmakers blasted the 2019 report because it didn’t include substantive changes to the state’s property tax system.
State Rep. Tom Weber, R-Fox Lake, said he was on the property tax relief task force in 2019 and isn’t optimistic about what will come from another study.
“We don’t have property taxpayers involved and this is going to be another waste of time,” said Weber.
Illinois has the second highest property taxes in the nation.
