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Illinois REALTORS®
In the News
Over the next few months, Illinois REALTORS® will be addressing advocacy issues around the state that could affect your clients, your communities and your businesses.
This week, your Illinois REALTORS® launched a media relations tour to educate Chicagoans about a detrimental transfer tax proposal that would harm Chicago’s residential, commercial and renters’ markets. Chicago residents will vote on the measure in the March 19 primary.
Illinois REALTORS® CEO Jeff Baker participated in interviews with major Chicago television, radio and trade print media outlets, explaining the negative impact the tax increase would have on your business and the city’s economy. Following is some of the information Baker provided to the media. The links are included to watch the full segment or to read the stories.
Controversial ‘Bring Chicago Home’ proposal heads to voters in March
“What we have seen in other cities and states that have tried to enact similar proposals as this one is, increases in transfer taxes almost always in the long run result in lower property valuations and lower property valuations then lead to higher property taxes across the entire taxing district,” he said.
“So, while some may argue that this is going to result in lower real estate taxes, actually in the net it is going to increase real estate taxes and that’s why we are trying to get the word out to as many voters as possible.”
Illinois REALTORS® plans $1 million campaign against transfer-tax increase
“We’re going to tell Chicago voters that it will harm the city if you create another real estate tax in a city where we’re already overly burdened with real estate taxes,” Jeff Baker, CEO of Springfield-based Illinois REALTORS®, said in a meeting with several Crain’s reporters on Jan. 30.
Bring Chicago Home is the proposal to add a surcharge to the existing transfer tax that buyers pay at the time of closing their purchase of a commercial or residential property. Because the surcharge would apply only to transactions of $1 million or more and create a new city revenue stream budgeted for fighting homelessness, Baker and others describe it as a new tax, although in a technical sense it’s a tax increase.
Illinois REALTORS® raises $1M war chest to fight Chicago tax hike
Baker said falling commercial real estate values will force the city to shift the property tax burden onto residential real estate. He said drastically increasing the transfer tax will cause commercial values to fall further, forcing the city to hike property taxes for homeowners should the measure pass.
“Even if it’s a rate reduction for some properties, it’s going to be an overall rate increase on a lot of property that you wouldn’t naturally think of,” Baker said. “This is a real estate tax that’s going to hit a lot of people. It’s going to increase property taxes.”
The Illinois REALTORS®’ campaign will involve direct mailers, fieldwork, digital ads and commercials on streaming services, Baker said. Those ads will start rolling out within the next week.
Illinois REALTORS® plans $1 million campaign against transfer-tax increase
Adds to $242K spent opposing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan last year
Advocates and opponents of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed transfer-tax hike on high-end deals are pulling out all of the stops as the March ballot approaches.
The Illinois REALTORS® association is launching a hefty campaign against the Bring Chicago Home ordinance, with plans to spend about $1 million in the coming weeks, Crain’s reported.
