Analyst warns Bears megaproject bill could raise taxes

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – A tax policy analyst says he is glad the Cook County Treasurer’s Office issued a report on megaprojects legislation, but he says the tax impact may be underestimated and the bill contains a “perverse” incentive.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office released the report titled, “Illinois Megaproject Bill: A Bears Incentive with Wide Property Tax Ramifications” on Monday morning.

Americans for Prosperity Illinois Deputy State Director Brian Costin told The Center Square that the report by Pappas’ office was thorough.

“I’m sure glad that someone in an official capacity is starting to take a look at trying to itemize what all the different costs are to the taxpayers from a bill like this,” Costin said.

Costin said stadium projects get subsidized in multiple ways, including reduced valuations.

“If it costs $2 billion to replace a property, shouldn’t it be valued at $2 billion instead of $600 million and change? That’s one question,” Costin told The Center Square.

Costin said the report may have missed what he called a “phantom” problem with a megaproject having its equalized assessed value frozen for 45 years.

“I think that it kind of creates a perverse incentive that allows local governments and the county to kind of use a megaproject as a piggy bank to raise taxes elsewhere,” Costin said.

The treasurer’s office cited reporting by The Center Square and others.

Earlier this year, University of Colorado Denver Associate Professor Geoffrey Propheter told The Center Square that “property tax certainty” requested by the Bears actually means property tax increases for those outside the tax increment financing district.

“You’re removing revenue from the general fund by diverting it to debt service through these TIFs,” Propheter said. “What does that end up doing? It ends up pushing property taxes upward and it ends up pissing people off because their property taxes are higher because you keep narrowing the tax base by siphoning off parts of the tax base.”

When asked about the Bears and megaprojects legislation last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said his north star is protecting taxpayers.

Costin said House Bill 910 exposes taxpayers outside of megaproject districts.

“As it stands right now, the bill is extremely dangerous for other taxpayers. It explicitly enables local governments to raise their property tax levies based on the untaxed value of the mega projects,” Costin said.

Costin expressed agreement with Pritzker in opposing the bill’s amusement tax on Bears tickets.

The Illinois House passed HB 910 on April 22, but the state Senate has yet to publicly take up the legislation.

The General Assembly’s spring session is scheduled to end on Sunday, May 31.

Costin said Americans for Prosperity would try to get bill language added to protect taxpayers.