Illinois’ Property Tax Crisis Is Different—Here, Falling Behind Could Cost You Everything

Since 2023, Illinois homeowners have shouldered the highest property tax burden in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation. And just two years since taking the dubious title, it’s already proving to be too much to bear for homeowners.

Roland Calia, a public finance consultant with The Civic Federation, outlines the stakes in an August 2025 report: “Maintaining strong property tax collection rates—typically above 95%—is critical for community stability and fiscal health,” he writes.

But in Cook County, there has been a collapse, with collection rates falling for three straight years, leaving nearly $1 billion in billed and uncollected taxes in 2023 alone. 

The numbers don’t just signal frustration—they signal danger. Because in Illinois, falling behind on your tax bill can mean losing your home and every dollar of equity you’ve built in it. 

While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that states cannot seize more than what’s owed, Illinois is the only state that still allows private investors to strip homeowners of their equity over debts as small as a few thousand dollars.

It’s the nation’s steepest taxes paired with the harshest penalties—and for thousands of homeowners, that combination has become unsustainable.

The numbers behind the crisis

Nowhere is Illinois' crisis more visible than in the growing number of homeowners who have fallen behind on their tax bills.

A 2023 tax-year bill analysis from the Cook County Treasurer's Office found that property taxes had been raised for at least 30 straight years. The relentless climb has proved to be too much for many—especially in the south and southwest suburbs, where median bills spiked nearly 20% in a single year.

That burden wasn’t shared across the county, though. Calia’s analysis also found stark regional disparities in collection rates. In 2024, Ford Heights collected just 32% of its billed taxes. In Robbins and Harvey, collection rates were under 53%. By contrast, Chicago and the northern suburbs exceeded 95% compliance.

These disparities reveal the structural inequities baked into the tax system. In lower-income areas—where home values are modest but assessments come in at a higher ratio of the home’s market value than more expensive properties—effective tax rates hit harder. In fact, 60% of the lowest-value homes are overassessed, compared to just 37% of the highest-value homes, according to research from the Center for Municipal Finance.

In other words, the people with the least are paying the most. And now, entire communities are slipping into delinquency.

Equity theft: Why Illinois stands alone

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, ruling when the government takes a home to settle a tax debt, it can’t keep more than what it’s owed. Or, as Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the decision, “A taxpayer must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but no more.”

It was a landmark affirmation of a basic principle: Debt collection cannot become legalized theft.

“Illinois is still confiscating more than what’s owed in property taxes,” says Christina Martin, senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation and one of the lawyers who originally argued the Tyler case, told Realtor.com® in May.

And yet, Illinois is the only state in the nation that has failed to reform its laws in the wake of that ruling.

When a homeowner falls behind on property taxes, the county places a tax lien on the home for the amount owed. That lien gives the holder the legal right to seize and sell the property to recover the debt. If the debt goes unpaid, the county can sell the lien to private investors to recoup the lost revenue.

This is a common practice throughout the country, but in Illinois, those private investors can then use the lien to seize the home and sell it, pocketing all the equity even if it exceeds the amount owed.

The consequences for affected homeowners can be devastating. Since 2019, $2.3 million in unpaid tax debt has triggered the loss of more than $108 million in home value, according to reporting from Injustice Watch. The disparity in those numbers highlights just how small the tax debts can be to trigger the loss of all of someone's home equity.

It’s a practice that disproportionately impacts Black and senior homeowners, according to local watchdog groups. In 2024 alone, over 800 seniors in Cook County had their unpaid tax debts sold at auction, placing their homes—and their life savings—at risk.

The political gridlock

At a glance, Illinois lawmakers appear hard at work on property tax reform. There are currently 161 bills related to property taxes pending in Springfield, covering everything from exemptions and abatements to assessment reform and surplus redistribution.

But quantity hasn’t translated to progress.

Both sides say they’re willing to collaborate. But in practice, cooperation is rare. GOP sponsors claim that Democratic colleagues support their proposals in private but fear political backlash to voice the support publicly. 

“They don’t share that with me, but my guess is that they’re concerned about what leadership may think,” state representative Dan Ugaste told The Chicago Reporter in August. “It’s much harder for their leadership not to call or not allow a bill to be called if their own members are supporting it.”

Democratic lawmakers say they’re willing to work with anyone who is prepared to bring meaningful relief to the table.

“It’s time for us to get serious. And part of being serious means that we fight for a fair tax system, not just have Republicans complain about property taxes,” state representative Abdelnasser Rashid also told the Chicago Reporter.

Even Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who calls property tax relief a top priority, acknowledges the scale of the problem.

“We need to address the property tax problems that face people across Illinois,” he said at a campaign rally in June. “That takes a lot of work because it's not just a one-time solution, it's something that requires us to increase investment in education, that is the biggest problem. You get your property tax bill, most of that is paying for education locally.”

Until lawmakers bridge the divide between tax relief and school funding reform, homeowners remain stuck in the middle.

The human cost

Behind the stalled policy talks are real families losing everything.

Velma Lewis is just one example. After falling behind on her property taxes, her home was seized by Cook County sheriff’s deputies, who burst into the 74-year-old’s home with a battering ram, according to a May report from Injustice Watch.

Instead of paying her $6,200 property tax bill, Lewis had used the money to replace the building’s failing roof. As a retired senior living on a fixed income, Lewis tried to get current with her bills but kept falling behind. In the end, the county auctioned off the home her mother had purchased in 1961, and the private investor took the deed and her equity with it—a sum of around $180,000.

Keep in mind, there were 800 seniors like Lewis who had their homes auctioned off in 2024. Each sale represents a child’s college fund gone, a retiree’s safety net erased, a neighborhood gutted.

What’s next

The country is in the midst of a property tax revolt, as overburdened and fed-up homeowners fight to keep what’s theirs. But nowhere are the stakes higher than in Illinois, where homeowners are faced with the nation’s highest effective property tax rates and the harshest consequences for falling behind.

The next chapter will hinge on whether lawmakers can look beyond piecemeal fixes and confront the structural reality: a system that is putting too much pressure on homeowners while exposing them to penalties the Supreme Court has already deemed unconstitutional.