Metro East Sun

Republican House hopeful Dwight Kay would like to see a system where taxpayers have more of a say about what kind of state they get to call home.

“Right now, local government is not representative of the values and the needs of the people,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “People don’t feel like their voices are being heard in terms of what they want from their government and that’s causing all sorts of problems across this state.”

Kay points to soaring property tax rates as a prime example.

Rep. Katie Stuart

A recent Realtor.com survey found that Illinois now has the second highest property taxes in the country, sparking rising levels of outmigration that have dropped the state behind Pennsylvania and out of the country’s top five states with the largest population.

With property taxes for some now higher than their regular mortgage payments, Illinois Policy Institute reports the state is now losing residents at a clip of one every 4.6 minutes. Over a yearlong period beginning in July of 2016, the state lost 115,000 people; and since 2010, that figure has ballooned to 643,000.

Illinois has now seen its population dip in each of the last four years, while none of the neighboring states have experienced any such decline since 2011.

“The main reason so many people are bolting is property taxes,” said Kay, who is challenging Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in Illinois’ 112th District. “You add to that all this Democratic talk about even higher rates and you understand why even more people are considering heading for the exits.”

Kay said he doesn’t expect anything to change until voters do what’s needed to change Springfield.

“Property tax reform is an issue Republicans have tried to broach over the years, but Mike Madigan is Speaker of the House and he doesn’t seem inclined to deal with the problem,” he said. “We need to let voters decide what the priorities are in their counties or districts because at this point taxpayers are being robbed in terms of what they’re being forced to pay.”

Illinois’ 112th District includes Bethalto, Caseyville, Fairmont City, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, Shiloh and Swansea.