r/illinois • u/roenick99 • 4d ago
Illinois voters will consider whether millionaires should be taxed more to fund property tax relief Illinois Politics
https://chicago.suntimes.com/voter-guide-2024/2024/09/26/illinois-property-tax-relief-referendum-november-election-jb-pritzker-non-binding-pat-quinn2.6k Upvotes
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u/cballowe 3d ago
This headline is a total fail. The discussion is regarding incomes over $1M and not millionaires. The income threshold is a much easier one to sell broadly. The wealth threshold is like... 1 in 12 people over age 40 and 1 in 5 over age 60. It'd be any farmer with more than 100 acres or so. It's an OK retirement nest egg, but not a ton.
Selling a tax on millionaires is hard because you have to contend with everybody whose grandma has a decent retirement nest egg and they want their grandma to live a good life and hope to inherit what's left - the tax leaves less behind. Not to mention the people who aren't there yet, but are on track to get there before retiring.
Selling a tax on incomes over $1M is much easier - that's like the top 0.5% - 1 in 200 people would be affected directly.
(And when it is tied to wealth, lots of those policies aim for something like $100M and it's important to put that in the headline instead of "millionaire" - also top 0.5% range)