Metro East Sun

A proposed statewide 1 percent property tax will only add to the burden of already over-burdened Illinois taxpayers and won't sate the appetite of the state's powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), a Republican House candidate from Wood River said during a recent interview.

"I do not support a 1 percent increase in property tax on the home value at all," Wood River Township Supervisor Mike Babcock, who is running for the 111th House District seat, told Metro East Sun. "It will not satisfy the appetite for tax-and-spend Mike Madigan. Property taxes in Illinois are already among the highest in the nation, and it is not fair to ask any more of already over-taxed property owners."

Instead, taxes in Illinois should be cut and reforms implemented, Babcock said. 

Wood River Township Supervisor Mike Babcock, running for 111th District State House seat

"We should roll back the income tax increase that penalizes hardworking families," he said."I will fight for common sense reforms to workers' compensation, a property tax freeze, pension reform and term limits."

Babcock, who has been Wood River Township supervisor since 2009 and owns Babcock & Associates, a local insurance business, is seeking the seat held by Rep. Monica Bristow (D-Godfrey). Babcock previous ran for the state House when he went up against Rep. Dan Beiser (D-Alton) in 2016. Beiser resigned from his seat in December, and Bristow was named to fill that seat.

Babcock's comments come a couple of weeks after a report issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago recommended spending down the state's enormous pension debt with a 1 percent statewide tax on residential property. The recommended tax would be in addition to property taxes -- among the highest in the nation -- that Illinoisans already pay.

Such an increase would leave Illinois topping the nation in property taxes, Babcock said.

 "Illinois is second only to the state of New Jersey with regard to the cost of property taxes," Babcock said. "Placing an additional 1 percent tax burden on the value of our homes will place Illinois as the highest property taxes in the nation. This tax will drive down home values and we will continue to see a mass exodus of people from our communities to neighboring states to escape punitive tax laws."

Illinoisans can put a stop to that in the voting booth, Babcock said.

 "My hope is that those who keep voting for the status quo re-evaluate who they have been voting for and consider someone who knows how to balance a budget without raising taxes," he said. "For the last 10 years as a township supervisor, I have balanced each and every budget that I have passed and I have not raised taxes for the last nine years. We have been running surpluses for the last 10 years with no tax increases."

On the heels of the Chicago Fed proposal, Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) introduced House Resolution 1072 to oppose the proposed statewide property tax. So far, the resolution has 41 co-sponsors.

The state needs more legislation like the Ives resolution but Illinois isn't likely to get it, Babcock said. 

"Sadly, it's very obvious that the Illinois legislature, controlled by Mike Madigan, does not know the principals of true economics," he said. "The answer to our problem is not more taxes but rather a growing economy. When we take more of what people earn to satisfy government spending it provides less money in our economy to create jobs."

The state also needs reforms, Babcock said. 

"We desperately need reforms to workers' compensation laws that make lawyers rich but drive businesses and the people they employ away from our state," he said. "The only way we can grow an economy is to create more jobs. The way you do that as a politician is to create the environment that business owners need to help them be successful. Legislators should remove barriers and reduce regulations that impede business growth."