Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Republican Party is warning voters against Amendment 1. 

Party officials are maintaining the amendment, if passed, would increase property taxes for families across the board to the tune of thousands. 

“As Illinois Republicans, we believe in hard work, and personal responsibility," Illinois GOP chairman Don Tracy said in his weekly memo. We are pro-growth, pro-business, and pro-worker. For many years, as a direct result of the important right to organize and collectively bargain, unions have protected and empowered many of our brothers and sisters in the trades and our brave law enforcement and first-responders.” 

Tracy reminded Illinoisans that “When you go to vote this fall, you will find a referendum on the ballot, called Amendment 1 to the Illinois Constitution.” 

“Amendment 1 is being promoted as a Workers’ Rights Amendment," he added" In reality, however, it is a disguised tax referendum, a Trojan horse that, if passed, is projected to cost a typical family over $2,100 in additional property taxes within the next four years. This property tax increase will be on top of our current property tax burden, which is the second highest in the nation, behind only New Jersey. Amendment 1 is a power grab that would result in a gigantic transfer of government power from we voters and our legislators to State union bosses. If it passes, it would make State government less flexible, less responsive and less efficient, while enriching State union workers at the expense of all other workers.” 

The GOP chairman explained that “Amendment 1 would empower government unions to override more than 350 existing state laws." This, according to him would add further challenges to the current poor state of businesses.

"We have already seen the damage that can be done by giving government unions like the Chicago Teachers Union, AFSCME, and SEIU virtually unchecked power to elect and control the very people who approve their union contracts,” Tracy said. “Our business climate is bad enough right now with businesses leaving our state and taking jobs with them. A recent Crain's article made that point stating, ‘Like it or not, Illinois generally isn’t seen as an employer-friendly state. Businesses complain about our tax rates, workers' compensation system, precarious state finances and the drawn-out process of getting permits for new factories. Amendment 1 would only make Illinois more anti-business. Amendment 1 is a blank check for government unions that should not be approved by voters.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker was busted for scheming up a strategy to get around property taxes by tearing out the toilets in his Gold Coast mansion. In the incident from 2018, he had his home's toilets removed in order to have it assessed as "uninhabitable," which allowed him to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. Instead, after the scheme was revealed, Pritzker gave back $331,000 in tax money, according to NBC 5 Chicago.

Illinois property tax caps have been demanded by many. Property tax rates in some parts of the state are comparable to monthly mortgage payments. Since 1990, Illinois's property tax burden has increased by 76%, more than twice as quickly as the state's median household income. After New Jersey, the state has the highest property tax rate in the country, Illinois Policy reported.

Concerns have been expressed regarding Cook County in particular for offering enticing tax rates to the politically connected. As a senior partner at the property tax reassessment legal firm Madigan & Getzendanner, the former House Speaker Michael Madigan, who was charged, accumulated huge riches. Because of Madigan's participation with that corporation for many years, Joe Berrios, a former property tax assessor and chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, and other significant Democrats with the ability to lower property taxes were tightly related to it, according to Illinois Policy.