Stan G.: With the taxes the way they are, with the governor choice that we have and the dysfunction in Springfield, we don’t see a really good reason to stay

Stan owns a 1,122-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom Wheaton home that is currently estimated by Zillow to be worth $307,980.

Stan bought the home in 2001 for $205,000, or $292,033.50 in today’s dollars. He has paid $83,112 in property taxes since 2001, about 40 percent of the original value of his home.

“Well, it’s just made the budget a lot tighter than it needed to be,” Stan said. “We had the recession and I actually lost my job at the time and the home value dropped significantly but the taxes continued to go up. We’ve paid off the house but we feel like we’re paying a mortgage.”

Stan is currently paying $5,841 per year in property taxes on his home, about 1.8 percent of the estimated value of $307,980.

Stan is currently paying $5,841 per year in property taxes on his home, about 1.8 percent of the estimated value of $307,980.

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.

“I think [Illinois politicians] need to put a cap on property taxes,” Stan said. “They need to force the government to go on a diet. They need to change the way pensions are funded and they need to change the pensions themselves, at least for new people. That seem to be one of the biggest drains on every budget in the state from the state level on down to the cities. That has to change.”

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.

“With the taxes the way they are, with the governor choice that we have and the dysfunction in Springfield, we don’t see a really good reason to stay,” Stan said.

If Stan lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $3079.80 per year or $2761.20 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

“[We’re considering options outside the state in a few years because we don’t want to keep paying these bills when we either cut our income or retire,” Stan said. “It’s not the only reason but it’s a big reason. We’re looking outside the state. We’re not actively going to move in the next couple of years because our kids are still in school.”