Chicago City Wire

Early voting has started in Illinois for the November 5 general election, which includes a non-binding advisory question on whether the state should adopt a "millionaire" tax for property tax relief.

The question asks: “Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised for property tax relief?”

Analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute indicates that a 3% "millionaire" tax would not generate the minimum necessary revenue of at least $4.5 billion to address Illinois' pension crisis, which is linked to the state's property tax issues.

Similar to the progressive income tax constitutional amendment rejected by Illinois voters in 2020, a tax increase on wealthy residents could eventually raise the tax burden on those earning less than $1 million annually.

"Illinois residents handedly voted against changing the Illinois constitution to enact a progressive income tax in 2020, 55% to 45% because they knew it would be bad for taxpayers long-term," said Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute.

Experts from the institute argue that reducing government spending or implementing constitutional pension reform are the only ways to provide property tax relief.

These advisory questions can be used by lawmakers as justification for future laws and taxes. The property tax relief question is one of three non-binding advisory questions on the ballot, which state lawmakers have included to prevent citizen-led initiatives.

"Similar tax systems have been a disaster across the nation. Residents should take these questions seriously, as Illinois lawmakers repeatedly break promises and may use the results of the advisory question as an endorsement to again attempt changing Illinois’ income tax structure, something we know is detrimental to taxpayers in Illinois," Hill said.

For more information about Illinois' ballot advisory questions, visit illin.is/ballotquestions.