Republicans, Pritzker point fingers over cause of rising property taxes

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Republicans says 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. Across all taxing bodies in the county, property taxes are up 182% 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% 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.”

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.

‘Didn’t take the hint’

Responding to the report Monday, Pritzker told reporters in Chicago the problem lies with school districts. The report found 55% 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 didn’t take the hint,” Pritzker said. “And so, they’ve 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.”

But 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 hicago Public Schools, have increased 211% while they are up 160% in municipalities outside the city. However, property taxes levied by Cook County itself only increased by 26% while inflation has risen 91% and average wages 161%.

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.

Proposed solutions

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’ve heard from people that they want to address property taxes,” he said. “They know we need to do something. It’s just they haven’t gotten there to do it. And it shouldn’t be partisan … it should be something we’re all willing to do – sit down and come up with the best ideas.”

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%. 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.