Reviving tax swap could help schools, homeowners

With Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic Party leader Mike Madigan engaged in an apparent blood feud in Springfield, a few state senators are discussing a grand compromise that could be a game-changer for school funding in Illinois.

Instead of a property tax freeze, a cornerstone of the governor’s “turnaround agenda,” Democratic senators are talking about a “tax swap” that could actually reduce property tax bills while increasing the state income tax to provide a fairer system for financing public education in Illinois.

The tax swap concept was first proposed by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch in 1994 and was ridiculed by her opponent in that election, Republican Gov. Jim Edgar…Please click here to read Phil Kadner’s column in the Tribune/Southtown Star.