Rep. Patricia Bellock (R-Hinsdale) offered her support to Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) on Thursday in her efforts to get bring a resolution to examine property taxes to a vote.
“It is a huge issue,” Bellock said. “It’s a bipartisan issue. It strictly isn’t a partisan issue. I think people on both sides of the aisle would like to have the property tax issues addressed by a task force that can spend some time looking into it.”
Ives’ resolution, HR139, would create the Fair and Equitable Assessment of Property Task Force to examine property taxes in the state. The resolution has been sitting in the Property Tax Subcommittee despite Ives’ requests for a hearing on it. She has yet to get a response, she said.
Ives claimed to have worked on the problem for years.
“I filed this resolution back in February, but I have been working on this resolution for over two years,” Ives said. “I’ve spoken about elements of how unfair property taxes are [and] the assessment of those properties for three years.”
Bellock asserted that property taxes have been a critical issue for the state and members of the chamber should bring up Ives’ resolution for discussion.
“We’ve talked about -- in the 'Grand Bargain' and the 'Compromise Bargain' -- that we have the second-highest property taxes of any state in the United States," Bellock said. "It is certainly worthwhile to have a task force to look into this issue, and I thoroughly agree with Rep. Ives on trying to get that resolution … onto the floor."
Ives suggested that her resolution would spark solutions to the property tax problem. It just needs a vote.
“It now seems that every Democrat gubernatorial candidate is concerned about property taxes, and yet my resolution -- a very reasonable ask -- to look at our assessment system, understand that it needs to be modernized and brought into the electronic era where we are not doing things on slips of paper shoved into a back drawer that can’t be found or verified or vetted [has not been brought to the floor]," Ives said. “I’d like everybody’s help on both sides of the aisle to get my resolution out …so that we can discuss modernizing our property tax system so that it will be fair … for everybody.”
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