Study Finds Illinois Residents Pay Highest Property Tax Rate
(CBS) -- Illinois has a first-place finish that is nothing to brag about.
The global information company CoreLogic analyzed property tax rates state by state, adding in everything.
It found that the owner of a home worth $200,000 in Illinois pays an average of $5,340 in property taxes -- more than twice the national average of $2,620. By comparison, Indiana ranked 37th and Wisconsin ninth.
The outcome of the study is not especially surprising to Civic Federation CEO Laurence Msall. The head of the 120-year-old watchdog group said blame can go in part to the continuing budget gridlock in Springfield, which has left many of the state's nearly 7,000 units of local government little choice but to raise property taxes.
While Msall said there are bills pending in Springfield that would impose a property tax freeze and pare the number of government entities, he said they have not been front-burner issues because of the Springfield tug-of-war.
By comparison, Wisconsin ranked ninth highest nationally and Indiana 37th. The lowest average property tax rate was in Hawaii.
The CoreLogic findings are similar to those in other recent analyses.