Lake County Gazette

Ken Idstein thinks economists with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago might have ulterior motives for proposing a property tax increase that would conceivably keep Illinois taxpayers handcuffed by higher taxes for the next three decades.

"I think we need to take the Chicago Fed Reserve’s suggestion of a 1-percent state property tax as a warning,” Idstein told the Lake County Gazette. “This is a shot across the bow from the Feds, who are looking at Illinois possibly being the first state to consider and move toward bankruptcy.”

The plan further calls for the tax to be enacted at rates nearly 50 percent higher than current levels as a way of paying down the state’s still-growing pension debt.  

Rep. Sam Yingling

The DuPage Policy Journal reports the hike would raise annual taxes on a home valued at $500,000 by somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000.

“While additional taxes, on the surface, might project more revenues, this will amp-up the exodus and this tax base will move out,” said Idstein, who is running against Rep. Sam Yingling (D-Grayslake) in the 62nd District. “Our voters need to take this seriously and change the culture in Springfield by changing some legislators.”

The Springfield purge needs to start with Yingling and longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), one of Yingling’s biggest financial backers, Idstein said.

“Our property taxes go up and Yingling gets money from Madigan to get re-elected,” he previously told the Lake County Gazette. “Yingling is working for himself and for Mike Madigan. We need to continue to educate the voters on the un-sustainability of the state budget crisis.”

The 62nd House District includes parts of Avon, Fremont, Grant, Lake Villa, Warren and Wauconda.