Dupage Policy Journal

Veteran Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) is part of a team of Republican lawmakers taking matters in their own hands when it comes to fighting to bring about the relief they believe property owners across the state are entitled to.

“My constituents tell me that they can’t wait any longer when it comes to this issue,” Mazzochi told the DuPage Policy Journal. “The way I look at it is Republicans take the need for property tax reform seriously while Democrats haven’t done much at all to give the relief they promised in exchange for all the tax increases. We’ve filed more than 20 bills on this and still haven’t gotten the kind of response people are crying out for.”

Mazzochi hopes things will be different with House Bill 5293, legislation that creates the senior citizens' homestead school levy exemption aimed at tackling the largest part of the property tax bill that is actually forcing residents out of the homes they have owned for as long as they can remember.

“This bill is designed to address those concerns,” Mazzochi added. “We hear from seniors all the time that say they’re willing to contribute to supporting schools in the community but don’t want to be priced out as a consequence of that. I mean these are seniors on fixed incomes.”

Mazzochi said there is no time to lose, especially with the Property Tax Relief Task Force Gov. J.B. Pritzker convened in 2019 not arriving at any solutions to the problem.

“To not act now will mean people having to deal with even higher property and income tax rates, neither of which I think are productive for the state,” she said.