In Cook County alone, refunds issued by local taxing bodies during the 2020 calendar year in categories covered by the legislation total $176.3 million - an amount roughly in line with annual refunds issued since 2015, based on statistics obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from the county treasurer’s office.
Pritzker’s desk could set the stage for a wave of annual real estate tax increases across Illinois by giving local taxing bodies the ability to make up for refunds they’ve issued due to erroneous property over-assessments by shifting those costs onto the rest of their taxpayers. That’s according to a Chicago Sun-Times investigation that found: And oversight is so lax that they don’t even try to verify that applicants meet the household income threshold of no more than $65,000 a year. In Cook County, though, officials admit the program is riddled with errors. Legislators portrayed the senior freezes as a way to protect homeowners over 65 years old, many on fixed incomes, from being hit with big tax increases if, thanks to gentrification and booming development, home values and property taxes in their neighborhoods shot up, creating financial hardships for older residents. The Israels - who pay $19,000 a year in property taxes on their oceanfront condo in Boca Raton, Florida - pay so little in Cook County property taxes thanks to a law the Illinois Legislature passed three decades ago establishing what’s called the “senior citizens assessment freeze homestead exemption” and problems with how the Cook County assessor’s office manages the program. Their property tax bill last year for their condo on the Magnificent Mile? Just $2,502. The 3,300-square-foot condo in Water Tower Place isn’t on the ocean, like owners Barbara Kaplan Israel and Martin Israel’s place in Florida, but it does have jaw-dropping views of Lake Michigan. * Tim Novak, Lauren FitzPatrick and Caroline Hurley at the Sun-Times…
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