Thanks to a “little-known loophole,” hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate investors have “siphoned” approximately $280 million from schools, parks, libraries, fire departments and other government agencies between September 2015 and September 2022 in Cook County. 

It's rare when newspaper editorial boards and fiscal watchdog groups recommend that residents vote to increase their property taxes. But that's exactly the case as Cook County voters face a binding question on their election ballot: Do you want to pay a little more to help fund the Cook County Forest Preserves?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $170.6 million budget gap in 2023 relies on booming tax revenues that she said proves Chicago’s budget has fully recovered from the economic catastrophe caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not explain Thursday how she would propose to bridge the city’s projected 2023 budget shortfall, which is now 33% bigger than the gap she detailed nearly two months ago.

A major part of a $1.2 billion multi-pronged state tax relief program will be disbursed to 6 million Illinois households starting Monday through the next six to eight weeks. The amount you’ll get back depends on factors such as income, family size and home value.

Chicago’s financial picture has been buoyed by the city’s red-hot real estate market and nearly $2 billion in federal aid designed to help the city withstand the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the barriers erected by elected officials and civic leaders beginning in the 1930s to keep Black Chicagoans, Latino Chicagoans and White Chicagoans from living, working and playing in the same neighborhoods remain unchanged nearly a century later, according to a new study.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi defeated challenger Kari Steele in his bid for a second term in what was the county’s most expensive and high-profile Democratic primary contest on Tuesday.

The value of commercial properties increased 56% from 2018 to 2021, compared with 10% for single-family homes and small apartment buildings, according to the data released by the Cook County assessor’s office. That could result in a consequential change in how Cook County’s property tax burden is carved up. 

A reprieve from having to pay a hefty tax bill sounds like a gift, but a monthslong delay in Cook County property tax bills could instead cause headaches for taxpayers, governments and elected officials alike.

Soaring inflation. The war in Ukraine. Yet another rise in COVID cases. With so much going on this year it’s hard to focus on things like filing your taxes. Nevertheless, the IRS still expects you to file your 2021 return and pay whatever you still owe by the filing deadline, which is April 18 for most taxpayers.

White House officials are hosting a virtual event Tuesday to encourage people to send their tax forms to the IRS, including those whose incomes are so low that they might not have traditionally filed.

The agency said it would no longer use a third-party service, called ID.me, for facial recognition. Critics of the software said the database could become a target for cyberthreats. 

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, objected to extending the credit out of concern that the money would discourage people from working and that any additional federal spending would fuel inflation that has already climbed to a nearly 40-year high.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has vowed to fix what has been a broken assessment system, but it’s meant some big increases for business owners who say they can’t afford it.

Illinois tax revenues plummeted when COVID-19 hit, but according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, they’re rising again.