Property Tax Bills Confusing Many in Cook County

by Wesley Fox Many property taxpayers in Cook County are confused and angry by their property tax bills.  While property value assessments are supposedly declining, tax bills are increasing leaving many asking, “Why?” According to one columnist at the Southern Star: I have been writing about the property tax for more than two decades now and still...

by Wesley Fox

Many property taxpayers in Cook County are confused and angry by their property tax bills.  While property value assessments are supposedly declining, tax bills are increasing leaving many asking, “Why?”

According to one columnist at the Southern Star:

I have been writing about the property tax for more than two decades now and still find myself in awe of a system so confusing that even the people who do the calculations are hard pressed to explain it.

Some have seen their tax bills increase 20 to 50 percent this year despite the housing crisis and anticipated decline in land values.  According to the Illinois Review:

The Cook County property tax system is so convoluted that it is difficult to determine the value of their homes, the rate of taxation and whether they are being charged a fair amount.

According to a recent article in the Daily Herald:

Because the 1,500 different overlapping taxing districts across the county create about 2,500 different possible variations for individual tax bills most of those in the suburbs [Bill] Vaselopulos said, “To make a generalization is very hard.” Yet revenue rose only 0.36 percent in Chicago and about 2.5 percent across suburban Cook, so all things being equal the average suburban homeowner should see a 2.5 percent increase in this year’s overall tax levy.

Unfortunately, all things are not equal according to Bill Vaselopulos of the County Clerk’s Office.  For example the Illinois Department of Revenue set a record high multiplier of 3.3701 to bring Cook assessments in line with the rest of the state, up more than 13 percent from last year.

It is troubling that Cook County taxpayers are being taxed even more this year and cannot get a clear explanation why.  Cook County has among the highest property tax rates in the country and the highest sales tax in the nation.