Kendall County Times

Jed Davis, Republican nominee for the Illinois House 75th District, recently gave his opinion on the issue of high taxes in Illinois.

Davis criticized Gov. JB Pritzker’s management of federal COVID-19 relief funds and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans during the pandemic.

"JB has always viewed these funds as a bailout for environments essentially created by him," he told the Kendall County Times. "You can’t point to a surplus when the underlying conditions remain unchanged. The truth is … we remain upside down as a state."

Illinois' property tax rate is the second highest in the nation at 2.27%, behind only New Jersey; a June report by Rocket Mortgage said. The owner of a $194,500 home in Illinois will pay $4,942 annually in property taxes. Thirty states have property tax rates lower than 1%.

"Property taxes in Illinois are unsustainable, especially when including all tax burdens," Davis told the Times. "Other states function on far less thresholds. So, let’s find out how and borrow their common sense."

Pritzker doubled Illinois' gas tax from 19 cents to 38 cents in 2019, a FOX 32 Chicago report said. He also instituted an annual gas tax increase. But Illinois Democrats passed legislation postponing this year's scheduled gas tax increase of 2.2 cents from July to January.

The gas tax increase delay was part of a bundle of tax rebates and delays in the record $46.5 billion FY 2023 budget, an Illinois Policy report said. The tax rebates and delays will save the average Illinois family $556. The 2.2 cents increase of the gas tax will take effect in January 2023 and will be followed by another increase in July 2023—likely of 3.8 cents per gallon—bringing Illinois' total gasoline tax up to 45.2 cents per gallon.

Davis called the move a "gimmick" that would do little to help Illinois families in the long run.

"The temporary delay with the gas tax is nothing more than an election year gimmick," he said. "I pray the people remember the gas tax automatically increases every year; it’s a perpetual, never-ending, increasing tax which is absolute nonsense."

Davis was also asked to describe the impact of the recent tax relief measures on his potential constituents.

"Let’s be clear, temporary pauses to annual automatic increases like our gas tax should never be classified as tax relief measures," he said. "Fifty to $300 on property taxes is an insult as well. These politicians are clearly out of touch with actual families."

A March report by WalletHub found that Illinois has the tenth-overall highest tax burden in the nation at 9.7%. The report weighed property taxes, income taxes, and sales and excise taxes.