Bill B.: It makes us live almost paycheck to paycheck

Bill owns a 2,788-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-bathroom Inverness home that is currently assessed at $496,520.

Bill took possession of the home in 2015 for $500,000, or $531,915.43 in today’s dollars. He has paid $49,830 in property taxes since 2015, nearly a tenth of the original value of his home.

“[Property tax money] has been spent poorly for teachers that are paid too much for too little work and for services that are out of control,” Bill said.

Bill is currently paying $13,519 per year in property taxes on his home, about 2.7 percent of the Cook County Assessor claimed value of $496,520.

Bill is currently paying $13,519 per year in property taxes on his home, about 2.7 percent of the Cook County Assessor claimed value of $496,520.

“I would love to leave Illinois except I got a business here in Illinois…so I really can’t leave,” Bill said. “I also have family that lives within a mile from us as well in the house I grew up in. We want to keep that in the family otherwise I would be gone.”

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.

"It makes us live almost paycheck to paycheck, which we shouldn't be based on the amount of money my family makes,” Bill said.

If Bill lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $4,965.20 per year or $8,553.80 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

“It would be huge,” Bill said. “It would take my taxes down to about $5,000. That’s the difference between me buying a new car.”