Some Illinois residents are paying property tax bills based on outdated and overpriced assessments, leading to an unfair burden to pay for the schools in their districts, according to a recent release from Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
“If we are going to fix the school funding formula, it is imperative that we also fix the assessment system upon which the school funding formula depends,” Ives said in the release. “School funding across the state will continue to be inequitable and unfair until we deal with this issue.”
Ives has called for an Illinois Department of Revenue investigation into each county to examine whether it is in compliance with laws requiring reassessments every four years. In Cook County, Ives said, taxes have remained high on suburban properties that have lost value and stayed low on downtown commercial properties that, sales records suggest, were taxed at up to 60 percent less than their true value.
Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton)
“Illinois has the highest effective property tax rates in the nation," she said in the release. "We just raised income taxes 32 percent when too many of our residents already cannot afford to live here. We need a system where residents can be assured that they will not be taxed out of their homes over time.”
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