(The Center Square) – Former Illinois Governor Pat Quinn continues to ask voters to approve a non-binding question to bring a “billionaire surcharge” to the Nov. 5 ballot. are.
Illinoisans pay the second-highest property taxes in the country, according to multiple national surveys. Illinois property taxpayers pay $23.2 billion annually, Quinn said.
With early voting underway, one of the advisory questions voters are asking is an additional 3% tax on those making more than $1 million to pay for the property tax relief fund. The question is whether it should be imposed.
“The unfortunate thing is that there is no money in the property tax relief trust fund,” Quinn said Wednesday at a news conference in Springfield. “Funds have never been allocated to provide these annual rebates.”
Critics of the proposal say it would have a negative impact on small businesses. State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barington Hills) said it would create a “business desert” in Illinois.
“This will be another example of the supermajority not understanding what entrepreneurs need to succeed in Illinois,” he told Center Square. “My Democratic friends are creating all kinds of deserts with bad policies. This policy will create deserts of small businesses and mid-market businesses. We need climate change. Illinois. We need to change the business environment.”
Mr. Quinn said he had seen Mr. McLaughlin’s comments.
“I don’t think we need to worry about billionaire deserts,” he says. “I think what we have to worry about is people losing their homes who can’t afford to pay their property taxes.”
Quinn submitted data showing more than 3 million households, more than 77,000 of whom are millionaires, and said they would be better able to pay such an additional fee.
Quinn said the advisory question sends a message to lawmakers and is different from the failed 2020 question on the progressive income tax.
“I think any amendment should include a $1 million threshold for the levy to apply to, and it should also require the creation of a property tax relief fund, which is already established in the law,” Quinn said. I think so.”
Quinn acknowledged that the bill is not binding, but if approved, it could provide guidance to the General Assembly for drafting new constitutional amendments that could be voted on within two years. He said it was possible.
Regarding the fund, Quinn said such a measure could put $4.5 billion into the fund if approved.
“However, that money will not be used for various government expenditures, but rather to return rebates to state property tax payers,” he said.
Two other advisory questions on the Nov. 5 ballot concern in vitro fertilization treatment and election worker safety. Early voting is underway.
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