Resolution
WHEREAS, Cook County Code assesses commercial property at 250% the rate of residential property; and
WHEREAS, As a result, businesses across Cook County pay a disproportionate share of property tax levies and heavily subsidize residential taxpayers; and
WHEREAS, In Chicago, commercial property represents 17 percent ofthe market value but 34 percent of the property tax base, according to data from the Cook County Assessor's Office and the Illinois Department of Revenue; and
WHEREAS, Data published by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas demonstrate that, beginning in 2015, the City of Chicago began rapidly increasing its property tax levy to meet its pension obligations, increasing the total annual levy roughly 30 percent by 2019; and
WHEREAS, The increase has also impacted commercial property disproportionately, with the median commercial property tax bill rising 36 percent from 2015 to 2019 to $9,659 and residential increasing 11 percent to $3,341; and
WHEREAS, A 2020 Lincoln Institute of Land Policy shows Chicago to have the 3rd highest commercial property tax rate and the 2nd highest commercial property tax bills in the country; and
WHEREAS, In 2020, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi broke with industry assessment practices and created a "COVID-19 Adjustment" to reduce residential property tax assessments roughly 10% across the county; and
WHEREAS, Assessor Kaegi reduced residential property assessments at the outset of historic increases in residential home values. The Assessor reduced property values based on incorrect market assumptions and applied them to a valuation date that predated COVID's impact, engineering a deliberate shift of tax burden. This error deviated from assessment accuracy so seriously that the State multiplier increased 10.54%, more than it has in nearly 40 years; and
WHEREAS, Assessor Kaegi's COVID-19 Adjustment proved to be grossly inaccurate, and according to studies by the Training Research, Advocacy & Education Network and the...
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