Colleen O.: We are looking to move over the border.
Colleen O. owns a 2,009 square foot, 4-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom Grayslake home that is currently assessed at $269,352.
“Currently [the property taxes are] preventing us from selling our house,” Colleen said. “We wanted to downsize. We had our house listed for eight months and kept lowering our asking price, but we just kept hearing that the taxes on the house were too high. We couldn’t lower the asking price anymore, so we decided to stay. We are thinking of buying over the border.”
Colleen took possession of the home in 2001 when it was worth around $210,000, or $299,503 in today’s dollars. She has paid $124,852 in property taxes since 2001, more than 59 percent of the original value of her home.
“I think we’re one of the highest in the nation and I have no idea what they’re doing with the taxes,” Colleen said. “I think it’s mismanaged. I don’t know what they’re spending the money on.”
“I think we’re one of the highest in the nation and I have no idea what they’re doing with the taxes,” Colleen said. “I think it’s mismanaged. I don’t know what they’re spending the money on.”
Colleen is currently paying $10,895 per year in property taxes on her home, about 4.0 percent of the Lake County Assessor claimed value of $269,352.
“A cap on the tax would help,” Colleen said. “So many people are leaving Illinois because of the taxes, especially in Lake County. We are looking to move over the border.”
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.
If Colleen lived in Indiana the most she could be charged in property taxes would be $2,693 per year or $8,202 less than what she currently pays in Illinois.
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