The Bears could reap more than $1.5 billion in long-term tax savings from a “megaprojects” bill under consideration in Illinois, according to a new report from the Cook County treasurer. That finding could further complicate the already delicate politics of the NFL’s team stadium efforts there.
A study released Tuesday by Cook County treasurer Maria Pappas said the benefits of the bill under consideration are clear to the Bears, as it would allow the team to negotiate their own property taxes for a $5 billion stadium and mixed-use development under consideration in suburban Arlington Heights, and freeze the assessed value of that property for 25 years.
The upside for taxpayers, in the view of Pappas’s office, is far less clear, and could siphon away “money that would otherwise go to fund schools and other local governments,” the report read in part.
The study estimates that under the megaprojects bill, the Bears could glean more than $39 million in annual property tax savings on the new stadium, compared to paying on normal assessed values—with that break surpassing $1.5 billion in total value over 40 years.
“Huge real estate projects can create jobs, boost sales tax revenue, and provide other benefits to their surrounding communities,” the treasurer’s study continued. “But property tax breaks for megaprojects would, for decades, severely limit one key goal of economic development: expansion of the property tax base that provides relief to other taxpayers who get no tax certainty. … And if there’s no expansion of the property tax base and only limited sales tax benefits, how do taxpayers benefit? That’s the multibillion-dollar question.”
