🇺🇸 duve

If you own a home or rent an apartment in Chicago, you are currently paying the price for the state's shrinking commercial tax base. The citywide median property tax bill jumped 17% last year, but that number hides a much darker reality, specifically for vulnerable communities. In 15 areas across Chicago’s South and West sides, property taxes shot up by 30%. In neighborhoods like West Englewood and North Lawndale, bills skyrocketed by an astonishing 75% or more. Why is this happening? It is a direct result of commercial and industrial businesses leaving those areas. When a business leaves, its property value drops. But the local government still requires the same amount of tax revenue (the levy) to operate. To cover the gap left by fleeing businesses, the government shifts the financial burden directly onto residential homeowners. As taxes go up, more people and businesses are forced to leave, triggering a vicious cycle that hollows out neighborhoods and destroys generational wealth. To fix the property tax crisis, Illinois must become a place where businesses actually want to set up shop.

This is unconstitutional. Voting is a fundamental right for every American. Illinois will keep administering free and fair elections – and what Donald Trump puts on a piece of paper will not change that.