From State Rep. Suzanne Ness:
Ness Introduces Property Tax Exemption for Seniors
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – In order to reduce the tax burden on older Illinoisans, state Rep. Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake, is sponsoring legislation to extend the maximum reduction for the senior citizens homestead property tax exemption to all counties across the state to $8,000 instead of $5,000.
“Maintaining a home can be difficult for those on a fixed income, like many senior citizens across the state,” said Ness.
“By increasing the maximum reduction for the senior homestead exemption, we can help keep seniors in their home without breaking their budget.”
Ness introduced House Bill 3141 to ensure homeowners that qualify for the senior citizens homestead exemption can reap the maximum benefit, no matter which county they reside.
Currently, only counties with a population of 3 million or more residents can receive an exemption of $8,000.
Ness is committed to reducing tax burdens on the middle class and
providing relief for lower income seniors.
“Regardless of where you live in Illinois, those that qualify for this exemption should receive
additional support when paying their property taxes each year.”
Since this doesn’t lower the overall burden, it means families under 65 will see a hefty tax hike.
Just another phony scheme.
Always lots of talk now let’s see some action.
This proposal does not lower the levy of any taxing body.
It just means that seniors will pay less and everyone else has to pay more to make up the difference.
For McHenry County, there were 22,151 residential properties (or 17.6% of all residential properties) that qualified for the senior citizen’s exemption according to the County’s Equalized Assessed Value Report.
This totaled $110.518 million in property tax exemptions for the 2019 Tax Year.
Given the aging population, the number of senior exemptions has been steadily growing over the years rising from 12.5% in Tax Year 2010 to 17.6% for 2019.
Obviously, this steadily pushes more tax burden onto the remaining property tax payers.
Ness’ proposal would increase the value of this exemption in the County by at least $66 million and probably more given the increase in the number of qualifying seniors for next year.
My guesstimate of the amount of the tax burden shift due to the $66 million in new exemptions is roughly 10% of that or $6.6 million.
Seniors could start at 62.
Where did the 65 come from?
To the people who resent senior citizens being able to stay in the home that they worked for and paid off and who have spent 40+ years paying school taxes and don’t have children or sent their children to private schools, I’d like to say,
“Just wait till it is your turn to be old.”
Insider is right.
Just a callous scam.
A good idea to help seniors 65 and over. They paid real estate taxes for many years that paid for schools and provided for their childrens’ education. Let the younger people pick up more of the burden to pay for schools.
Also trying to stop the outbouund migration of seniors with this paltry tax savings !
Intention is to keep seniors with ample savings in state but that is going to take a whole lot more changes downstate than $3,000 off at this point !
What difference does it make ——- the Covid vax will kill the seniors off when the next bioweapon is released.