Perry G.: I’m considering selling this house to get out from under the tax burden.

Perry G. owns a 2,220 square foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom Villa Park home that is currently assessed at $297,000.

“Our home is actually on three parcels, the house and the yards,” Perry said. “When I was a working person and had a 40-hour-a-week job, we were fine. However, I got diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and I was unable to work for about three years and I had to rely on my wife’s income, which was substantially less than mine.”

Perry took possession of the home in 1998. He has paid $122,614 in property taxes since 2000.

“My decision to leave the state is on the table,” Perry said. “I’m considering selling this house to get out from under the tax burden. I’m seriously considering moving out of this state. It’s been an unfair taxation process.”

“My decision to leave the state is on the table,” Perry said. “I’m considering selling this house to get out from under the tax burden. I’m seriously considering moving out of this state. It’s been an unfair taxation process.”

Perry is currently paying $10,664 per year in property taxes on his home, about 3.5 percent of the DuPage County Assessor claimed value of $297,000.

“We had to cut everything to the bone to manage our affairs,” Perry said. “The government isn’t doing that. The money that is paid out for pensions…I’m paying someone else’s retirement that is living comfortably. They are robbing from the poor to pay the rich. I don’t have any retirement nest egg.”

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 they changed it to something like you paying property taxes based on income would be so much fairer,” Perry said. “A hard cap would be a huge benefit. It would be more in line with what we could afford.”

If Perry lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $2,970 per year or $7,694 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

“The government is constantly growing and find new ways of raising funding through taxes for all their programs their feel are necessary,” Perry said. “If they continue to negate their responsibility in managing their own house. When we are struggling, we cut things to make ends meet. The government doesn’t do that.”

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