Mike S. in Naperville: We’re overtaxed and my home value has not changed

Mike owns a 3,236 four-bedroom, three-bath in Naperville that last appraised for $489,000.

He bought the home in 2002 for $436,000, or $610,753.84 in today’s dollars.

Mike’s property tax bill was $6,943 in 2002, which has risen to $10,557 as of last year.

All told, he has paid about $171,680 in property taxes over 16 year home ownership, or 35 percent of his home’s appraised value.

All told, he has paid about $171,680 in property taxes over 16 year home ownership, or 35 percent of his home’s appraised value.

“We’re overtaxed and my home value has not changed at all,” mike said. “It has not appreciated. Part of the reason why it has not appreciated is because of how much we are paying in property taxes.”

Put another way, while Mike’s home value was cut by around 20 percent, his property taxes have nearly doubled to an effective rate of 2.2 percent.

“My investment in my home was a bad investment,” Mike said. “I should have taken all of the money that I used for the down payment and stuck in the stock market and rented a home instead. I would have avoided paying all this money in property taxes and could have put it in an investment.”

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.

The maximum Mike’s taxes could be in Indiana would be $4,890, or less than half his current bill in Naperville.

"Our decision is that in our earliest possible convenience, we’re moving out the state of Illinois,” Mike said.