Billy V. in Grayslake: I had to end up selling and move out of the state because the state is in dire straits

Billy sold his 2,372 three-bedroom Grayslake townhouse for $237,000 in April 2017.

“I lived in Grayslake and I have sold and moved out of the state (to Michigan),” Billy said. “I lived in a townhouse that was finally appraised around $200,000...For a $200,000 townhouse that I originally paid $252,000 that I ended up having to pay $30,000 for somebody to take it because they said the property taxes were too high.”

Billy bought the home in 2009 for $252,000, or $296,011 in today’s dollars. His tax bill rose from $5,534 in 2009, or 2.2 percent of his home’s then-value, to $7,972 in 2017, an increase to 3.4 percent.

Over eight years of homeownership Billy paid about $63,238 in property taxes, or about 25 percent of the home’s sale price.

Over eight years of homeownership Billy paid about $63,238 in property taxes, or about 25 percent of the home’s sale price.

“I had to end up selling and move out of the state because the state is in dire straits. They have all those pensions they are paying and they’re not paying the taxes. We are. Everybody else is,” Billy said.

In all, over the course of his Grayslake home ownership, Billy’s home value was cut by a quarter and his property taxes were raised by 65 percent.

“It would be a find state to live in if they had a normal property tax rate. But they don’t,” Billy said. “They have one of the highest property tax rates in the United States and they are losing people left and right. Businesses are moving out. I’m not sure how they are going to collect taxes when they are losing all these people and businesses.”

Indiana has a hard 1 percent cap on property taxes. This means local governments are not allowed under state law to charge homeowner’s more than 1 percent of their home’s assessed value per year. The average property tax rate for the state of Indiana is 0.89 percent. Meanwhile the average property tax rate in Illinois is 2.3 percent.

If Tony's Grayslake townhouse had been in Indiana the most he could have charged in property taxes would have been around $2,000 per year or $5,972 less than what he last paid in property taxes in Illinois.