Curran, GOP lawmakers seek to end home seizures over unpaid property taxes

By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Illinois Republican Senate Minority Leader John Curran is at the forefront in pushing legislation crafted to bring the state in compliance with a recent Supreme Court decision protecting homeowners from losing equity in their homes for unpaid property taxes.

With Illinois now the only state in the country where residents face such consequences, Curran argues there’s little surprise recent data points to rising property taxes as the top reason for the state’s ongoing outmigration struggles.

“We have a court decision saying that people should not be losing the equity in their homes in a tax sale, yet this is still going on in the state of Illinois,” Curran told The Center Square. “It’s people’s life savings. It is most likely the biggest part of their savings portfolio, and so I think we want to make sure we find the other way to protect residents and protect homeowners that have fallen behind and make sure that they keep the equity that they have built in their home.”

Formally filed by Republican Sen. Erica Harriss, Senate Bill 3782 seeks to reform the system by creating a task force to analyze property tax foreclosures, ultimately shielding homeowners from losing the wealth they’ve worked to build in their properties in accordance with a 2023 Supreme Court decision rendering such practices unconstitutional when the debt owed on the home is lower than the equity in it.

Curran also recently introduced SB 3848 to create an income tax deduction on the year-over-year increase in a taxpayer’s home insurance and SB 3849, which would add annual consumer price index costs to Illinois’ General Homestead Exemption by tying it to inflation.

The veteran lawmaker adds he’s at a loss as to why it’s been such a slow grind for the state to work toward coming in compliance with federal law.

“The only thing that I’ve have heard is that there’s a lack of a plan to change the system,” he said. “We’re trying to take that excuse away by having this task force put together a plan how we transition away from this practice. I think we’ve got quite a few other states we can model ourselves after.”

Recent Census Bureau migration estimates show nearly 7,500 Illinoisans have recently moved to Missouri, where average property tax bill is less than half that in Illinois.