McHenry Times

State Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) is calling for tax relief as Illinoisans battle inflation while also dealing with high taxes.

"Illinoisans already face the highest effective tax rates in the nation due to the tax-and-spend policies of Democrats in the General Assembly," Ugaste wrote in an Oct. 22 Facebook post. "As inflation soars family budgets have been stretched even further. We have to provide long-term tax relief for our residents so they can grow and thrive here at home."

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) summary on Oct. 13, which found that prices increased 0.4% in September, and the overall inflation rate stands at 8.2% for the past 12 months. In the previous year, the cost of food has increased 11.2%, energy prices have risen 19.8%, gasoline prices have risen 18.2%, the cost of fuel oil has increased 58.1%, the cost of new vehicles has risen 9.4%, and the cost of transportation services has increased 14.6%.

The day before the new CPI summary, President Joe Biden said in a tweet, "We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re in a strong position to navigate through this economic transition."

The News-Gazette reported that worsening inflation has erased wage gains and will pressure the Federal Reserve to continue raising interest rates.

Illinois' property tax rate is the second-highest in the nation at 2.27%, behind only New Jersey, according to a June report by Rocket Mortgage. The owner of a $194,500 home in Illinois pays $4,942 annually in property taxes. Thirty states have property tax rates lower than 1%.

A March report by WalletHub found that Illinois has the 10th-highest overall tax burden in the nation at 9.7%. The report weighed property taxes, income taxes, and sales and excise taxes.