Howard Ray, founder of Reconstruction Era Reparation Act Now, or ReRan, is pushing a petition to add a referendum to the November ballot that would give Cook County residents the ability to vote to eliminate property taxes for ancestors of enslaved people as a means of reparations.
From 2010 to 2020, there were 1,429 tax sale evictions in Cook County. Across the 11 zip codes with the highest number of evictions, 73% of those evicted were Black, according to Housing Action Illinois. By comparison, 82% of people were white across the 44 zip codes with no evictions over that decade.
Although slavery was abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, many African American people still experience discrimination and systemic injustices that keep them from home ownership and economic advancement.
Ray estimated that eliminating property taxes will save the average homeowner $10,000 a year.
“This is the face of reparations,” Ray said of ReRan. “Reparation means somebody is giving you something because of what went wrong.”
“When you save $10,000, you’re able to invest in other things,” he added. “That becomes something that you can’t even measure.”
That money could instead be used for an improvement project that adds value to a house or go toward paying for children’s schooling or sports programs. And having more money would create less stress for people, Ray said.
Long-term, Ray said participants could set up a trust so that their children and loved ones can also access property tax exemptions, building generational wealth.
Eliminating property taxes for some doesn’t mean that others will have to pay more.
If passed, ReRan would reallocate money from Chicago’s and Cook County’s sales tax to pay for the property taxes of those whose ancestors were enslaved. ReRan is asking for three cents from every sales- and use-tax transaction in Cook County, and six cents from every transaction in Chicago. The revenue would still be a part of Cook County’s budget, but ReRan would have oversight of the funds.
“Everybody’s paying sales tax,” Ray said. “We’re saying, ‘We want to work with you on this. We all want to pitch in together to make this right.’”
ReRan is an arm of West Humboldt Park Community Coalition. When Amazon started building a facility in Humboldt Park in 2022, the coalition wanted to create a community benefit agreement with the company.
Among other requests, the agreement asked for Amazon to pay property taxes, since the facility is in an Opportunity Zone that qualifies it for tax cuts. And when the coalition began researching local property taxes, members came across data that showed how property tax evictions disproportionately affect Black Cook County residents.
But ReRan wouldn’t just eliminate property taxes for Black people. The tax cut would be available to anyone who is the descendant of an enslaved person who was emancipated by the Thirteenth Amendment. Those who apply for a property tax break would need to show documentation that their ancestors were enslaved from the likes of an ancestry test or the Freedman’s Bureau search portal.
Though Ray said he doesn’t know of any municipalities that have eliminated property taxes as a form of reparations, there are over 40 Illinois municipalities where residents don’t pay property taxes.
“This is not an impossible thing,” Ray said. “We want to show how this benefit is going to work and then research how this action could help other urban cities.”
ReRan needs over 100,000 signatures from voters who are registered in Cook County in order to get on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election.
To sign the petition, call or text (224) 370-1242 or attend ReRan’s petition drive June 30 from 1:30 to 3:30 at 951 N. Kilbourne Ave.