Tonia Khouri still refers to the 32 percent permanent income tax hike implemented as part of the state budget as the impetus for her run at the 49th House District seat in Springfield.
“We already pay one of the highest property taxes in the nation,” the Aurora Republican recently posted on Facebook. “One of my main reasons for going to Springfield is to lower our property taxes.”
Khouri, a member of the DuPage County board and chairman of its Economic Development Committee, recently bested Nick Zito by a nearly 2-1 margin in the Republican primary race to replace retiring Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago). She will now face Democrat Karina Villa of West Chicago in November’s general election.
Tonia Khouri
Khouri largely based her primary campaign on a platform of lower property taxes and greater reforms to the state’s long-troubled pension plan system.
“Springfield’s appetite for our money is insatiable,” Khouri previously told the DuPage Policy Journal. “Our families pay the highest property taxes in the nation, and the Chicago Democrats’ and 'surrender' Republicans’ answer was to burden us with a 32 percent income tax hike without any reforms.”
Khouri recently told the Sun-Times the top issue she hears about from her would-be constituents in the district is the spiraling problem of property taxes.
“People are literally being priced out of their homes,” she said. “And what brought me into the race was the 32 percent income tax hike without any reforms. … I think the key in that phrase is ‘with no reforms.’”
Reform will require lawmakers to finally address the state’s troubled pension system, she said.
“We can never balance our budget or lower our property taxes if we don’t tackle pension reform,” she told the Sun-Times. “So I’m going to be focused on pension reform; I’m going to be focused on fair and equitable property tax assessments, and consolidation. If we can do all these things, we can lower people’s property taxes.”
Khouri said one of her first orders of business will be to propose legislation reforming how property taxes are assessed and ensuring people in the city of Chicago and across Cook County are properly assessed.
Khouri said another pressing issue for the district is the problem of out-migration.
“Illinois loses 1 resident every 4.6 minutes to other states and millennials are leading the pack as they look elsewhere for better opportunities, lower taxes, and a more stable government,” she told the Sun-Times. “We need to turn around the mass exodus. We are losing too many taxpayers. With millennials being the biggest age group leaving the state, we are also losing our future taxpayers. Turning those two things around will increase revenue, and keep people and families in the district.”
Khouri said lawmakers have to move to get the state’s growing pension liability crisis under control.
“Rep. (Mark) Batinick (R-Plainfield) has introduced a few variations of a pension buyout,” she told the Sun-Times. “It is clearly constitutional because it is optional. It allows individuals in the pension system to exchange a benefit for a lump sum value that would be rolled into a retirement account tax-free. That discount would be the savings. We could also offer optional buyouts to move current employees into defined contribution plans, and even offer buyouts for benefits. With pension costs being about 25 percent of our budget and increasing, this is an area that desperately needs addressing.”
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