Bill helps Cook Co. residents with property taxes

August 1, 2010 (CHICAGO) Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill Sunday that extends the 7-percent cap in annual growth on a home's value for tax purposes. Without the law, thousands of Cook County residents would have started paying higher property taxes in approximately one or two months.

"We don't want the property tax system, the collection system, to end up eating away at the income of everyday people who end up living paycheck to paycheck. We've got to give relief to the people who need it," Quinn said.

The law also creates taxpayer action boards to evaluate the property tax systems in Cook and six other Illinois counties and to make the process more transparent.