Rauner signs bill allowing property tax cap evasion

By Cal Skinner of McHenry County Blog - 

SPRINGFIELD – Friday, Governor Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 5529, which serves as a tax cap evasion mechanism for school funding.

School boards deliberately tax far above their budgeted needs in the Transportation Fund, then (by virtue of Rauner’s endorsement) may transfer excess funds out of that fund into other tax-capped, taxing-to-the-max restricted Funds.

Seneca Township resident Susan Handelsman observes that property tax payers in Woodstock are paying 4.6% of homes’ fair market values due to spending by a school board employing this tax cap evasion technique.

This bill passage, so explicitly antagonistic towards property taxpayers, is inexplicable given Rauner’s language on a different bill he vetoed:

Illinois has the second highest property taxes in the country, and those taxes continue to rise. Many property owners struggle to make tax payments.

The current tax sale process provides both counties and taxpayers with a system through which to address unpaid or delinquent taxes.

Referring unpaid tax bills to private debt collectors would penalize property owners who are already facing skyrocketing property taxes.

First and foremost, we need to make property taxes more affordable.

First published on McHenry County Blog. Used by permission.