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GUERRILLA warfare is being waged against Illinois property tax rates. The score to date: Guerrillas, 2; battles in progress, 9. A number of other possible battles are pending.

The guerrillas' weapon is a statute in the Illinois Revenue Act that has been on the books since 1947, but had never been used until last year (///. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 120, sec. 643a). Section 643a allows voters to cut many maximum property tax rates 25 percent by referendum. Signatures of 5 percent of the voters in the last election for the unit in question, or of 1,000 voters, whichever is less, are required to call a referendum. Section 643a covers most county, municipal and special taxing districts, but there are important exclusions and at least one big question. The major exclusions are school districts (the lion's share of property tax bills), districts with a million or more population (Chicago and Cook County), most sanitation districts and sparsely populated counties. An interesting provision allows a new referendum as often as officials are elected to the unit (every one or two years in many cases) to lop off another 25 percent.

The big question, which is about to be tested in the Illinois Supreme Court, concerns home-rule communities. The statute is silent on the subject, since it was written long before the 1970 Constitution which includes the home-rule provision. City councils in eight home-rule communities -- Rockford, Evans-ton, Elgin, Moline, Peoria, Rock Island, Deerfield and Glenview -- accepted petitions but refused to put the issue to a vote in April elections. Home rule grants them the power to tax without being subject to legislative maximums, and they contend a referendum setting maximum rates would violate that home-rule power. The National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI) sought a court order forcing Glenview to put the question to a vote. Cook County Circuit Judge Arthur L. Dunn denied the order, but certified the case to go to the Supreme Court. The NTUI hopes the case will reach the high court by July, according to Mike Hepple, executive vice president. "If the case should lose there," he said, "a federal appeal is possible." Ultimately, his organization would like to see home rule declared unconstitutional in the federal courts, he said. But this is not an immediate goal.

There have been two clear guerrilla victories so far. In November, Effingham County voters approved by a three-to-one margin cuts in the maximum tax rates of several funds, and in April, voters in Collinsville -- not a home rule city -- approved cuts by a two-to-one margin. Everett Arnold, who headed the Effingham County drive, said he is advising other groups and that several counties -- including Clinton, Bond, Franklin, Jefferson, Jackson, Madison and Macoupin -- are in various stages of planning for similar referenda.

Those fights may have to wait, since a clause of 643a allows officials to wait until the next regular eleciton, if one is held for the taxing body in question at least every two years. However, enough public pressure could influence officials to call a special election. The Clinton County Taxpayers Association was having petitions printed when the clause came to their attention, and the group still hopes to force a referendum before November 1980. The group is waiting for further action until July when it can assess tax related legislation.

In DuPage County, where petitions were rejected last November on a technicality, officials have accepted new petitions but have refused to call a special election.

The NTUI hopes to force a referendum for the DuPage County Forest Preserve District. Section 643a requires a special election within 90 to 120 days if officials of the taxing district are appointed. The NTUI believes this applies to the forest preserve district because its directors are not elected but serve by virtue of their election to the county board. That case will go to court soon, Hepple said.

Everett Arnold summed up the tremendous appeal of tax cutting: "People are tired of too much taxes, too much big government. They've been bled too much." A self-educated man, Arnold is a fertilizer salesman and a farmer. He is a sharp contrast to NTUI president Jim Tobin who is a banker and economics teacher at Elmhurst College. But they share a conviction that citizens should reclaim control of their governments and their taxes, and both see these local skirmishes as just a beginning. "If enough counties do this, it will serve notice on the state," said Arnold. Tobin wants a 50 percent cut in state and local taxes by the end of the 1980's. So far, possible cuts represent only small savings to taxpayers, from about $10 per home in Effingham and Clinton counties to as much as $50 in cities.

But 643a proponents hope to broaden the statute to cover all taxing districts, including school districts. Douglas Whitley, executive vice president of the Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois, sees a major legislative battle over 643a and other tax-cut proposals, since officials of taxing units, including powerful education organizations, are certin to fight for their interests.

It is tempting to compare the Illinois tax war with California's Proposition 13, but there is an important difference. Illinois tax-cutters already have a potent and flexible law which allows attacks on selected targets rather than across-the-board cuts that may unfairly punish efficient, conservative taxing bodies.

Jessica C. Weber is a free-lance writer living in Southern Illinois; she was formerly a reporter with The State Journal-Register.

June 1979 / Illinois Issues / 19