Illinois state Rep. Amy Grant’s (R-Wheaton) appointment to a new task force dedicated to getting at the root cause of Illinois’ soaring property taxes could not come at a more opportune time for already stressed out taxpayers.
“Illinoisans pay the second-highest property taxes in the entire country, and DuPage County ranks second in the state for highest median property taxes,” Grant told the DuPage Policy Journal. “DuPage County deserves property tax relief and its representatives should be at the forefront of any investigation into property tax relief.”
Based on the findings of a new Federal Housing Finance Agency report, Grant knows she and other members of the bipartisan Property Tax Relief Task Force have some heavy lifting to do. Researchers found that over the last decade, as average home values have dipped by around 21 percent, property tax rates have increased by about half that much after adjusting for inflation.
Illinois state Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton)
| repgrant.com
At the same time, Illinois Policy Institute reports that the drop in home values across the state is 300 percent worse than the national average. With Illinois having now lost population in each of the last five years, at least partly due to Springfield lawmakers' lack of action on the issue to this point, Grant and company are scheduled to get to work right away with a report of their final conclusions due to be shared with the General Assembly before the end of the year.
Grant, who was appointed to the committee by House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, was elected earlier this year after topping Democrat Kathleen Carrier in the 42nd District with 52 percent of the vote.
The 42nd District includes all or parts of Carol Stream, Lisle, Warrenville, Wheaton, Winfield, West Chicago and Naperville.
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