Politics
Appeals Filed by Cook County Businesses Added $2B to Homeowners’ Property Tax Bills: Report
A row of homes in Chicago’s North Center community. (James Andrews / iStock)
Cook County’s property tax appeals system shifted approximately $2 billion in property tax bills from businesses to homeowners between 2021 and 2023, according to a new report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.
Black and Latino homeowners were forced to cover “a disproportionate share of the burden,” according to the latest analysis from Pappas’ research team to examine Cook County’s property tax system and urge changes to make it more equitable.
“This study helps explain why many homeowners have experienced sticker shock when opening their property tax bills in recent years,” said Pappas, who is considering a bid for Chicago mayor in 2027. “The Cook County residents earning the least shouldn’t be shouldering the most, when it comes to taxes.”
Property taxes fund a host of critical public services, including schools, park districts and libraries. Individual bills are calculated based on the tax levies set by government agencies and how the assessed value of the property changed, as compared with other properties in the area.
Property owners displeased with the reassessment of their property’s value can appeal to the assessor’s office and then contest that decision at the county Board of Review. If they are still unsatisfied with the assessed valuation of their property, they can appeal to state officials and ultimately file a lawsuit, giving a judge the final say.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who is serving his second term as assessor after being reelected in 2022, has vowed to more accurately pinpoint the value of commercial properties to ease the size of property tax burden on homeowners.
But that effort has been largely thwarted by the Cook County Board of Review, a government agency made up of three elected commissioners, which frequently rules in favor of commercial property owners who object to Kaegi’s determination of their properties’ values, reducing their tax bills.
The report from Pappas’ office validates that criticism, Kaegi’s office said in a statement.
Cook County should create a “high-quality, uniform process by which to adjudicate commercial appeals, particularly at the Board of Review,” a spokesperson for Kaegi said.
Appeals filed by businesses reduced their property tax bills by nearly $3.3 billion, according to the treasurer’s study. Because government agencies rely on property tax revenues to keep their budgets balanced, homeowners had to pick up a larger share — adding $1.9 billion to their bills, according to the treasurer’s study.
While previous studies have documented how the use of property tax appeals can benefit businesses at the expense of homeowners, the study from the treasurer’s office is the first to determine how much more homeowners have had to pay and that the increase was greater in areas where a majority of residents are Black, Latino and less affluent.
Businesses appealed the assessment of the value of their property 64% of the time, while homeowners appealed 27% of the time, according to the study. Businesses also won far larger reductions than homeowners, the study said.
Residents in affluent areas appealed their property value 46% of the time, while those in the lowest-income areas appealed just 11% of the time, according to the study.
That had a profound impact on the amount of property taxes paid by Chicagoans, increasing inequity throughout the city, according to the study.
In Chicago neighborhoods home to a majority of White, wealthy residents, property taxes rose 13.5% after appeals from 2021 to 2023. But residents of less affluent neighborhoods, home to a majority of Black and Latino residents, saw their tax bills jump by 19.8%, according to the study.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
