Alderman Ricardo Munoz's proposal highlights seven expensive properties in or around the Loop that aldermen contend were underassessed, shifting the property tax burden to other property owners.
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and state Rep. Robert Martwick are all involved in the clout-heavy cottage industry of property tax appeals.
The Cook County assessor may have to pay $41,000 in fines for accepting donations in excess of the limit allowed by Cook County campaign finance rules.
The office of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx signed off on a $2 million property tax settlement with the property tax firm headed by Foxx campaign donor Alderman Ed Burke.
One community in northern Illinois’ McHenry County is a case study on the glacial pace of consolidation in a state with the most units of local government – and some of the highest property taxes – in the nation.
The Mount Prospect village manager is set to receive a $214,000 salary in 2018, joining a long list of other Illinois municipal officials collecting similar and even larger paychecks.
Solving Illinois’ people problem requires addressing the high cost of government, which makes the state far less attractive for people looking to plant roots.
Illinois lawmakers passed hundreds of bills in 2017, but enacted no real reforms to boost the state’s economy, rein in the cost of government or provide relief to taxpayers.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.