We need near-term solutions while also tackling tax reform

It’s regularly said that one’s ZIP code is a predictor of a lifetime of poverty or success; economic mobility and opportunity examined and boiled down by ZIP code. It is a regrettable reality—and should come as no surprise—that a community’s tax rate impacts equity and outcomes as well.

This makes the call to action for property tax reform in Springfield this spring even more pressing. The South Suburban Mayors & Managers Association, or SSMMA, which represents 45 municipalities in Chicago’s south suburbs with nearly 750,000 residents and over 20,000 businesses, is urging lawmakers to take up this challenge with a focus on near-term solutions that alleviate increasingly burdensome property taxes impacting homeowners and businesses alike.

This includes passing legislation known as the Southland Reactivation Act. Our region’s legislators have advanced the proposed measure as a pilot program for the south suburbs to revitalize blighted or underperforming commercial and industrial properties through a locally governed means that lowers property tax bills for qualifying sites for 12 years….Please click here to read Mayors Tyrone Ward and Rick Reinbold’s guest column in Crain’s Chicago Business, or read a related press release.