A large and growing source of property tax refunds in Cook County are generated when a Court reverses or vacates the sale of delinquent taxes. A recent Appellate Court decision provides a good overview of the tax sale process and […]
Category: Property Tax
Court Rules Homestead Tax Exemption Applies to Lease Agreements
August 23, 2019
An Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled that the general homestead exemption applies to a couple leasing a single-family home. In Shrake v. The Rock Island Treasurer, the Court determined the couple, as leaseholders, were entitled to the general homestead exemption because […]
Cook County Assessment Appeals Caused Backlog at PTAB and Spike in Refunds According to New Report
June 25, 2019
Recently, the Civic Federation, a government research organization, released a report of the Property Tax Appeal Board that details the history of the PTAB backlog of appeals, extrapolates data from the last fifteen years, and provides several recommendations for how to […]
The Illinois Department of Revenue has released the final 2018 Cook County equalization factor. The factor (sometimes referred to as the multiplier) for 2018 is 2.9109. The press release from the Department of Revenue is available here. Cook County equalization factors […]
Appellate Court Clarifies Truth in Taxation Law
April 24, 2019
Last week the Illinois Appellate Court ruled that the Truth in Taxation Law does not require a taxing district to document its estimated property tax levy and that a public hearing is not required if a proposed levy is less […]
New Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi Lays Out His Plan for Office
February 21, 2019
At a meeting of the City Club of Chicago today, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi presented his plans to modernize the Assessor’s office. Kaegi announced that the first area of Cook County he will reassess is the north and northwest […]
Illinois Supreme Court Finds Hospital Tax Exemption Constitutional
September 20, 2018
Today, the Illinois Supreme Court issued a decision in Oswald v. Hamer marking the latest chapter in a controversy dating to 2003. The decision finds that Section 15-86 of the Illinois Property Tax Code, which provides a special charitable property tax exemption […]
Last week a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a group of seven Cook County taxpayers challenging the time it has taken to adjudicate their claims in the Cook County Circuit […]