A new study shows 13 percent of Chicago-area homeowners with mortgages owed at least 25 percent more than their homes were worth.

A number of state and local lawmakers in Illinois practice property tax appeals litigation. But a pair of bills recently filed in the General Assembly would end their ability to benefit at the expense of taxpayers.

DuPage County billed property tax payers $2.74 billion for 2016; this meant owners of a median-valued home in Naperville worth $388,000 had a $9,000 property tax bill.

Growth in state spending per capita outpaced per capita personal income growth by nearly 40 percent in Jackson County.

Business owners in one Illinois community are using the law to fight back against high property tax bills. Their lawsuit claimed property taxes spiked on commercial properties from 2015 to 2016, but only in their town.

Illinoisans shoulder some of the highest property taxes in the country. This burden is key to understanding the state's outmigration problem. Despite the failure of lawmakers to reverse this crisis, there remain a number of sound reforms waiting for consideration.

An order currently under consideration by Chicago City Council challenges the assessments of seven properties, four of which have been the subject of property tax appeals by the law firms of Chicago Alderman Ed Burke or Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan.

Illinois' fifth-largest city is moving to raise taxes on telecommunications and hotels, and fold homesharing into the latter.