Illinois property tax revolution? THE LITTLE brick and frame bungalow looks no different than the others on tree-lined Thayer Street in northwest Evanston. But someday, they may install a plaque in front of it. It's where the revolution began: the Illinois property tax revolution. It was on the evening of July 28,1977, that five persons met at the Evanston home of Jean McJohnston, a member of the Libertarian party, to organize a movement to protest real estate taxes. A year later, the movement is going fullsteam and spreading. The passage of Proposition 13 cutting taxes in California has given the Illinois protest a shot in the arm, but things were cooking here long before Howard Jarvis' name became a household word. James L. Tobin, president of an organization called National Taxpayers United of Illinois, called that original meeting after learning that large numbers of north suburban Cook County homeowners had received huge tax increases. Also present were a retired Evanston insurance man whose taxes had gone way up and two other members of the Libertarian party, a group whose platform calls for lower taxes and less government. A week later they attracted a crowd of 150 for a public meeting at the Evanston Public Library, and there followed many more meetings in other northern suburbs attended by thousands of angry taxpayers. This year the movement has spread throughout the Chicago area, and it apparently won't stop there. A statewide citizens lobbying group, the Illinois Public Action Council, has made property tax reform one of its major goals. What has been accomplished by all this activity? For the first time in many communities, it has gotten people together to try to reduce taxes and make them fairer. And voters have defeated many school tax increase proposals in referendums over the last year. All this has put a scare into the politicians. For the first time, large numbers of their constituents are hopping mad about taxes, mad enough to present a potential electoral threat. One concrete result was the legislature's passage in June of a bill to give tax rebates to low-and middle-income persons (at this writing awaiting the governor's signature or veto). Illinois' Constitution, unlike California's, does not give the citizens the power to put binding propositions on the ballot, with the exception of propositions dealing with legislative structure and procedure. In Illinois, only the legislature can change laws or submit proposed changes to the electorate. (A campaign is underway here to place an advisory proposition on the ballot for property tax relief.) As it stands now, the protest movement consists of many local groups with enthusiastic membership but little centralized direction. If there is a leader, it is Tobin, but his leadership has consisted mainly of giving fiery speeches at community meetings about the evils of taxation. His efforts to persuade homeowners to withhold payment of their taxes have failed miserably. What the movement needs is one or more leaders who can come up with a feasible plan for effecting tax reform, then mobilize the troops — and they are more than willing to work — to carry it out. There are at least four approaches to the problem: • Change the laws to assure a more fair administration of the tax. This is terribly important, but it is a lot easier said than done, because the tax is based on the value of each property, and there always will be differences of opinion over value. • Shift the burden of the tax more to the affluent. This makes sense — tying the tax to the homeowner's income — but it will be opposed bitterly by the rich, and they have clout. • Eliminate the tax or make drastic cuts in it, then find an alternate source of revenue — either by creating a new tax or increasing existing ones. You can bet that the legislature and the governor will be reluctant to be identified with any effort to create or increase taxes, even if tied to a property tax reduction. • Eliminate the tax or make drastic cuts in it (same as above), and get along without the revenue. There is unquestionably a great deal of fat in governmental programs — particularly in schools, the principal beneficiaries of the property tax. But a big cut in the property tax would eliminate a lot more than just fat. It comes down to this: What Illinois needs — what the nation needs — is public officials who will (1) reassess governmental priorities and cut back services to what is really needed, (2) revise the tax structure so that the necessary money is raised from those most able to pay, and (3) guarantee that the taxes will be administered fairly and efficiently. That is a tall order, and the Illinois legislature may not be up to it. That is where the protest movement comes in. There is a potential in those hordes of unhappy homeowners out there for destroying the political careers of dozens of tax-happy lawmakers and replacing them with men and women who will listen more closely to their constituents. If a throw-the-bums-out-of-office campaign is successful, the results could be spectacular. And maybe by 2078, Jean McJohnston's little bungalow will be a historic shrine. 34/August 1978/Illinois Issues
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