Tony D.: I’m feeding someone else’s retirement but I can’t save for my own.

Tony D. owns a $1,520 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom Geneva home that is currently assessed at $250,158.

“We’ve only been here five years, so it has always been high,” Tony said. “We haven’t seen that dramatic of an increase. However, we’re still paying an exorbitant amount to begin with.”

Tony took possession of the home in 2012 when it was worth around $215,000, or $236,118 in today’s dollars. He has paid $42,084 in property taxes since 2012, more than 19 percent of the original value of his home.

“It dictates everything—from what kinds of cars we can drive to what vacations we can go on,” Tony said. “It cuts into every bit of disposable income we had.”

“It dictates everything—from what kinds of cars we can drive to what vacations we can go on,” Tony said. “It cuts into every bit of disposable income we had.”

Tony is currently paying $7,394 per year in property taxes on his home, about 2.9 percent of the Kane County Assessor claimed value of $250,158.

“We have a plan right now to sell our business and once our son finishes high school we will be looking to move out of the state for sure,” Tony said.

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.

“We love the city and love the Chicagoland area, but we just can’t stay,” Tony said. “Just seeing how [the money] is misspent and how they always want more for another tax or raising the taxes. I feel like the Illinois government can’t keep their spending under control and they just keep going back to taxpayers to tax us. I’m feeding someone else’s retirement but I can’t save for my own.”

If Tony lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $2,501 per year or $4,893 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

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