SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, said Wednesday he is now willing to include property tax relief as part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to raise business taxes and give a huge infusion of cash to public schools.

Senate Democrats are working on a property tax relief proposal, although the details still are being worked out, Jones said. One of his main concerns, he said, is that a flat, across-the-board reduction in property taxes will end up most benefiting wealthy suburban areas that spend the most on property taxes.

"If you are going to give property tax relief, how do you target the property tax relief so that all of the money does not go to wealthy school districts?" asked Jones, noting that an across-the-board cut will do nothing to close the per-pupil spending gap between rich and poor school districts.

"If you do a 25 percent across-the-board cut, the bulk of the money will go to places like Kenilworth and places like that," Jones said. "You will keep that (spending) gap there."

Jones' willingness to consider property tax relief is a shift from last week, when he said Blagojevich's plan to put $1.5 billion more into public schools next year would be enough to ease pressure on property taxes. Jones also said that less property tax revenue would mean less money available for direct aid to classrooms.

Blagojevich did not include property tax relief in his budget proposal that calls for $7 billion in business tax hikes in the fiscal year that begins July 1. However, some key lawmakers, including Sen. James Meeks, D-Chicago, have insisted that property tax relief be included in any initiative that addresses school funding. Meeks is backing a bill that calls for increasing the state income and sales taxes, giving more money to schools and cutting property taxes.

Though he didn't propose one, Blagojevich is on board with passing a property tax relief plan, said spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch.

"The governor met with Emil (Tuesday) to discuss a number of topics. The idea of working a property tax relief component was part of that," Rausch said. "The governor is open to it."

She declined to discuss details of a possible relief plan, including how much money might be devoted to it.

The plan backed by Meeks calls for $2.7 billion in property tax relief. It would guarantee a 20 percent reduction in all school districts across the state. In addition, districts with relatively low property values would get additional aid, abating up to 40 percent of their property tax burden.

Ralph Martire of the Center for Budget and Tax Accountability authored the bill supported by Meeks. He said Jones is correct that an across-the-board property tax cut would send most of the dollars into districts with high property values. That's why Martire's plan gives additional relief to districts that have low property values, but high tax rates.

"You want to promote economic growth," Martire said. "You do not encourage business development with high property tax rates."

Also Wednesday, Jones said he does not think Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's criticism of Blagojevich's plan to tax the gross receipts of businesses without also offering property tax relief will hurt chances of it passing in the Senate.

"We've got to raise the revenue," Jones said. "Everyone wants more money for schools. They want construction projects. They want money for mass transit. (Has) anyone come up with a better solution for getting the money? You can't complain about a fair tax."

In his budget speech last week, Blagojevich said businesses are not paying their fair share of taxes because many large companies escape paying the state's corporate income tax. A gross-receipts tax imposed on nearly all business transactions would raise $6 billion, he said.

Daley on Tuesday said Blagojevich's anti-business statements could cause companies to leave the state. He also said the gross-receipts tax will be passed onto consumers through higher prices for goods and services, so property tax relief is needed in exchange.