Matthew L.: If there was a reason for the Boston tea party, it is now.

Matthew L. owns a 1,181 square foot, 4-bedroom, 1-bathroom Mount Prospect home that is currently assessed at $249,740.

“It sometimes feels more than the cost of living increase,” Matthew said. “Increase property taxes doesn’t feel necessarily fair and equitable for what the increases of our property value are going.”

Matthew took possession of the home in 2014 when it was worth around $310,000, or $330,179 in today’s dollars. He has paid $18,876 in property taxes since 2015, more than 0.7 percent the original value of his home.

“If there was a reason for the Boston tea party, it is now,” Matthew said. “I mean, there is very little taxation with representation. We don’t have a choice of what is taught or done for the schools. That’s the majority of where our property taxes go. I don’t think they spend it wisely. We have no direction or input in how it's used.” 

“If there was a reason for the Boston tea party, it is now,” Matthew said. “I mean, there is very little taxation with representation. We don’t have a choice of what is taught or done for the schools. That’s the majority of where our property taxes go. I don’t think they spend it wisely. We have no direction or input in how it's used.” 

Matthew is currently paying $6,866 per year in property taxes on his home, about 2.7 percent of the Cook County Assessor claimed value of $249,740.

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’s difficult for me just because of the type of work I am in where I’m sort of stuck in Illinois,” Matthew said.

If Matthew lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $2,497 per year or $4,369 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

“One, for teachers to not get the structure of retirement benefits that they get,” Matthew said. “That needs to be reformed. Municipalities and school districts spend wastefully. The majority of our property taxes goes toward education and we’re out the top for education so we need to do something different.”

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