J.D.: I’ve thought about moving out of Illinois.

J.D. owns a 1,800 square foot, 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom Tinley Park home that is currently assessed at $165,710.

“Like many Americans, we live paycheck to paycheck,” J.D. said. “We filed for bankruptcy a few years ago. We had too much debt, too many medical bills.”

J.D. took possession of the home in 2003. He has paid $45,820 in property taxes since 2003.

“I’ve thought about moving out of Illinois,” J.D. said. “We could relocate to Indiana.”

“I’ve thought about moving out of Illinois,” J.D. said. “We could relocate to Indiana.”

J.D. is currently paying $5,119 per year in property taxes on his home, about 3 percent of the Cook County Assessor claimed value of $165,710.

“I know a lot of our taxes go to the pensions,” J.D. said. “It’s not spent efficiently. I don’t get that sense. It seems like we’re sending too many people out with six-figure pensions and the poor keep getting poorer.”

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 1 percent hard cap like in Indiana seems to be working well there and we need to do something like that,” J.D. said. “That would be one potential thing we could do.”

If J.D. lived in Indiana the most he could be charged in property taxes would be $1,657 per year or $3,462 less than what he currently pays in Illinois.

To share your story with us, please send an email including your full name, address, phone number and email address to news@saveyourhomenow.org.