Yvonne B.: We are going to move out of Illinois this spring.

Yvonne took possession of the home in 1992 when it was worth around $119,815, or $215,580 in today’s dollars. She has paid $64,833 in property taxes since 2000, more than 54 percent of the original value of her home.

“We are going to move out of Illinois this spring,” Yvonne said. “My husband decided he doesn’t want to retire here. He doesn’t want to spend his pension on property taxes.”

Yvonne is currently paying $4,978 per year in property taxes on her home, about 2.4 percent of the Will County Assessor claimed value of $200,145.

“They misspend the money,” Yvonne said. “They don’t use it wisely at all. We need people that are fiscally responsible with the funds that they receive and I don’t see that happening at all. It’s really very sad what they do with the funds.”

“They misspend the money,” Yvonne said. “They don’t use it wisely at all. We need people that are fiscally responsible with the funds that they receive and I don’t see that happening at all. It’s really very sad what they do with the funds.”

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.

“The hard cap would be hard at first [for the government], but the people in control would have to tighten their belts,” Yvonne said.

If Yvonne lived in Indiana the most she could be charged in property taxes would be $2,001 per year or $2,977 less than what she currently pays in Illinois.

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