Amanda J.: We don’t want to stay in Illinois because of [the property taxes].

Amanda J. owns a 2,750 square foot Grayslake home that is currently assessed at $316,674.

“I wonder where all the money goes,” Amanda said. “We have all the tollways, some of the highest property taxes and highest sales taxes. There’s just one tax after another.”

Amanda took possession of the home in 2016 when it was worth around $275,000 or $289,000 in today’s dollars. She has paid $25,409 in property taxes since 2016, more than 9.2 percent of the original value of her home.

“We don’t want to stay in Illinois because of [the property taxes],” Amanda said. “We don’t want to stay in Grayslake, at least. Our property taxes are nearly 5 percent of the estimate of our house so it doesn’t make sense to stay in Lake County. There are other places in Illinois that are 2 or 2.5 percent, which is still high, but still lower than 5 percent if we stayed here.”

“We don’t want to stay in Illinois because of [the property taxes],” Amanda said. “We don’t want to stay in Grayslake, at least. Our property taxes are nearly 5 percent of the estimate of our house so it doesn’t make sense to stay in Lake County. There are other places in Illinois that are 2 or 2.5 percent, which is still high, but still lower than 5 percent if we stayed here.”

Amanda is currently paying $12,449 per year in property taxes on her home, about 3.9 percent of the Lake County Assessor claimed value of $316,674.

“We’re definitely open to leaving Illinois, even though we have lived here our whole lives,” Amanda said. “If the taxes were lower, it would never cross our minds to leave.”

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.

“I think they need to take a hard look at the budget and see what is absolutely necessary and what is just nice to have,” Amanda said. “The one percent hard cap like in Indiana would save us so much money a year.”

If Amanda lived in Indiana the most she could be charged in property taxes would be $3,166 per year or $9,283 less than what she currently pays in Illinois.

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