Prairie State Wire

Several House Republicans held a press conference to criticize task forces and stress the importance of property tax relief for Illinoisans.State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) said at the press conference that his district believes taxes are too high.

"Property taxes are way too high," Ugaste said. "That’s the number one priority."

Ugaste said the U.S. Census will show there has been a population decrease in Illinois.

Rep. Dan Brady | rep-danbrady.com

"People are leaving by taxes are too high," Ugaste said. "We have the task force out in place—there are many problems with it. It called for an increase in sales tax to solve the property tax problem. Nothing came of (the task force)."

Ugaste said the people of Illinois don't want this.

"They want property tax relief now," Ugaste said. "House Bill 4143 will help school districts out from under unfunded mandates. It is a step forward in providing real relief."

Ugaste said he also filed several other bills to help with property relief.

"On the bills I filed, none of them have moved and yet to be heard," Ugaste said. "I'm asking Democrats to join us in moving these bills forward. We are a state with problems and we need to fix those problems."

Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) said during the press conference that there had already been multiple tax task forces over the last 40 years.

"There have been nine tax task forces since 1978 proposed by the majority party and none of them have produced anything tangible for Illinois," Brady said.

Brady said Republicans just want to be heard.

"All we have to do is have a fair hearing," Brady said. "We want to have our voices heard on behalf of our constituents."

Brady said property tax relief is important.

"It shouldn’t matter across the aisle—property tax relief is needed. Seniors need this. Let this legislation have its day."

State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) said property taxes have been a major problem in Illinois for many years.

"We have a convoluted tax system pushing people out of the state," Mazzochi said.

Mazzochi said The Property Tax Relief Task Force was supposed to bring reform, but it did not.

"We got another task force and we wanted to use that task force to see and bring reform to Illinois," Mazzochi said. "We took that task force seriously, but Democrats used that to further other taxes like the income tax."

Mazzochi said she wasn't surprised.

"Our ideas were summarily dismissed, like pension reform, greater reforms to local government systems, enhanced transparency on tax bills," Mazzochi said. "There was no substantive action by Democrats this session. House Democrats continue to not take action."

Mazzochi said she wants Republican legislation passed that will provide tax relief for Illinoisans.

State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) said he was optimistic about change when The Property Tax Relief Task Force was assembled, but the task force was ultimately a sham.

"Democrats have failed to act," Sosnowski said. "We’ve passed the deadline by quite a bit and nothing has happened."

Sosnowski said the task force was created to gain taxpayer support for Democrat income tax legislation.

"Instead of bringing us closer to reform, it was a complete disaster," Sosnowski said. "I'm calling on colleagues to help bring these bills we’ve introduced to be heard by the committee and voted on."

House Bills 5293 and 4133 are two of several that House Republicans have introduced to help provide property tax relief.