Cook County property taxes skyrocketed over past 30 years, treasurer's study shows
Pappas says she is trying to raise awareness about loopholes in the system that are contributing to your rising tax bill.
COOK COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- A new report on property taxes in Cook County shows that they have skyrocketed over the past 30 years. And anyone who has seen their latest tax bill can attest to the strain on the checkbook.
In an election year, property taxes are on the minds of a lot of voters. The county treasurer says she is trying to raise awareness about loopholes in the system that are contributing to your rising tax bill.
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Cook County residents are facing an April 1 deadline for the first installment of their property tax bills. Paying them has become an increasingly difficult burden for many people.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas highlighted the plight of a retired couple facing a tax bill that has tripled since last year.
"So, they come in with their medical bills, phone bill, gas bill, electric bill, sewage bill, and lay it all out on the counter, and they say, 'I can't afford this,'" Pappas said. "So, this is over 30 years. Property taxes are up over 182%."
Pappas' office just completed a study of rising property taxes. That study found that Cook County property taxes have grown at twice the rate of inflation over the past three decades.
According to the study, in the last 30 years, property taxes imposed in the county grew by 182% while inflation rose by less than 91%, and average wages grew by 161%.
Pappas says legal loopholes have allowed local taxing bodies, through a number of different means, to get around state laws that are supposed to cap annual property tax increases at the rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is lower.
"We're trying to figure out how to light a fire under the people who spend like drunken sailors, which is the 562 governments in Cook County, the primary ones," Pappas said. "We want to light a fire under them to say, 'Hey, you know what? We got to slow this thing down.'"
The majority of the money from property taxes goes to fund schools. The state is now contributing hundreds of millions of dollars more each year to help school districts, but Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker notes that it has not curbed tax hikes.
"One of the purposes of that is to alleviate the burden on local governments, on local school boards and on people who are paying property taxes locally," Pritzker said. "But you know what? School boards didn't take the hint."
Pritzker was asked if a proposed millionaire's tax might be the property tax burden solution.
"It seems property taxes just go up and up and up, and we've got to deal with that problem," Pritzker said. "And I don't think it's just a millionaire's tax, if that were to happen, that would be the answer."
Property taxes may be top of mind for voters, but the issue is, what, if any steps, will lawmakers be ready, able, and willing to take to address those concerns?
