Never heard of it?
This cartoon from the Saturday Evening Post prompted this article.
Well, back in 1966 when I ran for McHenry County Treasurer I campaign against the Personal Property Tax.
It was the most hated tax at the time.
My opponents ridiculed my, saying a County .Treasurer didn’t have the power to abolish the PPT
A lot of people moving into McHenry County from Cook County figured they didn’t have to pay it.
After all, there if you gave your Personal Property Tax bill to your Democratic Party Precinct Captain, he could make it go away.
Not so in Downstate Illinois.
A number of decided to rigorously collect the tax, figuring people would get so made they would contact the legislators demanding it be abolished.
State Rep. George Burditt introduced a bill saying that one could not get a license plate if they couldn’t not proved they had paid their Personal Property Tax.
A bunch of County Treasurers attended the House Committee hearing on the 6th floor of the House Sifr of the Capitol to support the bill.
Burditt got it out of committee and managed to pass it, but the legislation died in the State Senate.
Our State Senator, Robert Coulson, introduce a bill introduced an amendment to the State Constitution abolishing the Personal Property Taxes on individuals.
Right before I left office, it was passed.
Businesses challenged it constitutionality and Supreme County Justice Charles Davis (R-Rockford) wrote the decision ruling the amendment was OK. (I talked to him at the old Courthouse in 1970 when he was successfully seeking the GOP primary election nomination.)
So, my campaign promise was fulfilled.
