Don Tracy: Illinois Families Crushed by Highest Property Taxes in America
SPRINGFIELD — According to a new report from the Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois tied New Jersey in 2024 for the highest effective residential property tax rate in the nation at 1.88%, more than double the national average of 0.86%. On a median-priced Illinois home, that translates to a property tax bill of roughly $5,452 per year.
The report also found property taxes are especially crushing in suburban collar counties such as Kendall, McHenry, Lake, and DeKalb, where median property tax bills range from nearly $6,000 to almost $9,000 annually. These costs contribute to Illinois losing thousands of residents to neighboring states.
“For many Illinois families, property taxes now feel like a second mortgage payment,” said Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Don Tracy. “Working people who play by the rules are raising families, paying their bills, trying to save for the future. Meanwhile, government just keeps taking and spending more. That’s not sustainable. It’s not fair. And it’s one of the biggest reasons taxpayers leave Illinois.”
“Families are voting with their feet because Illinois has become too expensive to live, too expensive to own a home, and too expensive to retire. Juliana Stratton and her big government allies keep pushing the same tax-and-spend agenda while everyday people are forced to sacrifice more and more just to stay afloat.
“Now, Juliana wants to take these same failed policies national. She calls it the ‘Illinois Blueprint.’ But Illinois should be a warning to the rest of the country, not a model to follow. Property taxes keep rising because Illinois’ ruling class refuses to address the real problems driving them: overspending, unfunded state government mandates, and underfunded pension systems that crowd out funding for local communities and schools. You cannot keep demanding more from taxpayers while making life less affordable every single year.
“Illinoisans deserve leaders who will fight to make life more affordable and preserve their American Dream, not tax and spend politicians who drive working families and jobs out of our state.”
Don Tracy is available for phone, video, and in-studio interviews.
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About Don Tracy:
Don is Senior Counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens, the oldest law firm in Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln famously practiced law for four years. Public service is important to Don, with a lifetime spent in community service, most often in volunteer positions. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, Secretary of the Illinois Bar Foundation, President of the Sangamon County Bar Association, Chairman of the Illinois Corporate Acts Advisory Committee, and President of the Abraham Lincoln Association, President of the Oak Ridge Cemetery Board, among other community leadership positions. Born in Urbana, raised in Mt. Sterling in Western Illinois, and having raised his own family in Springfield in Central Illinois, Don has deep ties to "downstate Illinois." As the oldest of 12 children, family has always been important to Don.