Timothy V.: They have to raise all these property taxes just to cover the pension burden

Timothy owns a 2,073-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-bathroom La Grange Park home that is currently assessed at $381,010.

Timothy took possession of the home in 2000 when it was worth around $265,000, or $388,029.56 in today’s dollars. He has paid $124,923 in property taxes since 2000, nearly half the original value of his home and 32 percent of the current value of his home. Timothy’s property taxes have increased by 47 percent since 2000.

“Why should you pay more when the services that you get from the community or the county or the state are exactly the same?” Timothy said. “I don’t require anymore services from my schools, from the police department, the fire department, the people that plow the street than the guy that lives two blocks away from me that got a million-dollar home. So why should all those taxes not be exactly the same?”

“Why should you pay more when the services that you get from the community or the county or the state are exactly the same?” Timothy said. “I don’t require anymore services from my schools, from the police department, the fire department, the people that plow the street than the guy that lives two blocks away from me that got a million-dollar home. So why should all those taxes not be exactly the same?”

Timothy is currently paying $9,467 per year in property taxes on his home, about 2.4 percent of the Cook County Assessor claimed value of $381,010.

“[Politicians] waste it,” Timothy said. “I look at my property taxes bill and…if there is a pie, where is majority of the money going to the pie? It’s going to pensions. Illinois, we’re underwater on all these public service jobs that have pensions to them and so what they do is they have to raise all these property taxes just to cover the pension burden. That’s where all the money goes.”

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.

“Yep. It absolutely have [thought about moving],” Timothy said. “I’m 58 years old. I’m certainly looking to possibly move to certain areas where the real estate taxes are significantly cheaper but also have a different economic climate. I’m not retired yet but the business that I do I could possibly do remotely. So if I can do something remotely, there is no reason that I would have to stay here, other than I have a family here.”

If Timothy lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $3,880.29 per year or $5586.70 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

“I don’t think we have people who are making these decisions that are practical thinkers,” Timothy said.