South Cook News

29th House District Candidate Jeffrey Coleman said voters are to blame for high property taxes in the state – particularly Cook County – for not holding office holders accountable.

Coleman also noted the property tax burden is a more significant burden for lower-income individuals and limits their upward mobility in regards to asset growth and wealth accumulation.

“Part of the problem is that our property tax is weighted on the lower income, lower value property owners, which is which is not fair at all," Coleman said to South Cook News. "You have people in Ford Heights that are paying a higher tax rate than individuals on the Gold Coast. There has to be checks and balances. It's gotten out of hand."

“We have to really assess the property tax problem," Coleman continued. "The system is obviously not working and is basically damaging homeowners and is literally chasing people out of Illinois. Homeowners are leaving Illinois in droves because of unfairly assessed property taxes," Coleman said. "It has to be addressed and the problem needs to be solved. You can't keep complaining about how high property taxes and then when people to the state capitol to represent our cause and we don't get any any relief at al. There is no accountability. We don't hold any of these elected officials accountable. And it's business as usual while homeowners are suffering, their property values are diminishing. I know a lot of people that started very successful businesses that were taken out some equity in their homes. The more homeowners you have, the more stable your community is.”

Given Illinois's high tax economy and declining population during the past seven years, a congressional seat was about to be lost.

The state has lost more than $30 billion in economic activity as a result of population reduction.

The Illinois Policy Institute's top economist, Orphe Divounguy, wrote a paper on the state's population reduction and its effects.

For years, Illinois has had a decline in its population, which has gotten worse as a result of the Covid epidemic.

“Population decline was already contributing to lower economic growth for Illinois when COVID-19 and government shutdowns piled on and the problems accelerated,” Divounguy said.

Coleman's reference to the Gold Coast homeowners is noteworthy given the ongoing investigation into billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who tore out the toilets in his Gold Coast mansion to escape property taxes. In the 2018 incident, he removed the toilets from his home to have it valued at "uninhabitable" status, saving him hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. After the scam was exposed, Pritzker gave back $331,000 in tax money.