<p>Before the House passed the megaprojects bill last month, we were told that the drafters didn’t want to just do some symbolic or “token” property tax relief. After the chamber passed the bill, we were told the property tax component will provide meaningful statewide relief for homeowners.</p><p>Well, the governor’s office ran the numbers on the statewide tax relief aspect of the bill and shared the results with Senate Democrats, which I obtained.</p><p>It <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/05/04/bears-stadium-property-tax-relief-pritzker-negligible" >ain’t good</a>.</p><p>The tax relief component is built into the payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, part of the legislation. Megaprojects developers would negotiate with local governments what “special payments” they’ll pay on top of property taxes based on frozen assessments.</p><p>The House proposal would take half that “special payment” money from local governments and divert it to property tax relief, with 60% of the annual special payments going to local residential taxpayers in the megaprojects area.