Dupage Policy Journal

Republican House candidate Jay Kinzler believes lawmakers have not done enough to calm the biggest fears of Illinois residents.

“People are worried they’re not going to be able to afford to stay in the house where they’ve raised their kids and had their family,” Kinzler told the DuPage Policy Journal. “Their home is their nest egg, and even the few that have paid them off are now paying more in taxes than they ever did for their mortgage. Seniors are especially shaken because they don’t have income coming in anymore.”

A new Realtor.com survey reports that Illinois now has the second highest property taxes in the country, fueling a domestic migration epidemic that recently saw the state fall out of the country’s top five states with the largest population.

Deb Conroy

“As I go door to door talking with people, the first thing they say to me is ‘my house values are going down while my property taxes are going up,’” said Kinzler, running against Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park) in the 46th House District. “I tell them that has everything to do with the poor leadership in Springfield. They have failed us and have been unable to put forth a balanced budget, despite all the generous revenue we’ve given them that’s been squandered.”

Illinois has lost roughly 643,000 residents over the last eight years and the decrease has come at a time when no other neighboring state has shown a decline since 2011, the Illinois Policy Institute states.

“People are fed up, and if they can find a job out of state somewhere they’re jumping at it,” Kinzler said, adding that he recently spoke with a Glendale Heights family paying close to $10,000 per year in property taxes and desperately trying to hold on.

“The father explained to me that all those taxes come on top of the 32 percent income tax hike recently imposed,” Kinzler said. “The family has four young children, there’s no way they can keep doing that. We have to make Illinois a place where people can actually afford to live again.”

The 46th House District includes all or parts of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Glendale Heights, Hanover Park, Lombard and Villa Park.