The proposal to fund the Chicago Transit Authority with an increase in transfer taxes for suburban Cook and the surrounding collar counties is about as broad-based a tax increase as there is and should be outright rejected by legislators. As written, the proposal would impose a 600 percent tax increase on Illinois homeowners and increase closing costs on most suburban homes by thousands of dollars.

In addition to the suburban tax increase, the proposal also forbids Chicago from ever trying to decrease its real estate transfer tax.

Illinois’ housing economy represents nearly a fifth of the state’s domestic product, and decisions like these add to the history of policy decisions that have crippled new home construction, sales and economic development.

For far too long, real estate taxes have been seen as a bottomless well to fund local government programs. Under this proposal, the state would be piling on. The well is dry, and our real estate economy needs relief, not new taxes.