Illinois State Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorne Woods)
Illinois State Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorne Woods)
Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) can't cut Illinois property taxes in half, but an amendment he has introduced might make it easier for voters to do it.
The amendment to Senate Bill 1075 would reduce the number of signatures required to get a binding referendum on a ballot in a taxing district from 10 percent of legal voters to 5 percent.
“Here in Illinois, we have the second-highest property taxes in the nation, and people are not happy about it,” McConchie told the Lake County Gazette. “They should have the opportunity to put the question on the ballot. Up until now, that’s been very difficult to do. No other standard for doing something like that is nearly as high.”
McConchie hopes the proposed legislation will make it easier for taxpayers to fight back against a system of constant tax increases in a state that nonetheless remains heavily mired in debt.
“I am proposing legislation that makes it easier for homeowners to regain control of their taxes and make their tax obligations more manageable,” he said.
McConchie said not many voters seem to realize that current law gives them the power to place limitations on how much their government can ultimately tax them.
As it is, the nonpartisan watchdog group Tax Foundation reports that median property taxes in the Chicago collar counties of Lake, DuPage, McHenry, Will and Kane are among the highest in the nation.
McConchie said his proposal has attracted plenty of support from colleagues.
“I believe government should be as small as possible and that taxpayers should have as many tools at their disposal as they can,” he said. “I’m willing to go as far as I have to in making sure that citizens have a say about matters that are of importance to them.”