The County’s system is out of date, made up of patchwork solutions, and one of the most complex in the nation. It is often regarded as untrustworthy and unapproachable. Residents and commercial property owners both share common negative sentiments about Cook County’s property tax system. Issues are typically concentrated around two areas:
The system’s operations are difficult to understand and are systematically inequitable. Property values change due to inconsistent assessments and appeals. This creates instability for the local economy.
People who live in areas with lower property values and a history of economic disinvestment are unfairly saddled by astronomical tax burdens.
The Cook County Property Tax Reform Group is the first working group of its kind. It consists of all County offices with involvement in the property tax system and is committed to in-depth examination of how our property tax system has affected taxpayers and communities across the County.
Reforming the property tax system will allow the County to address racial and socioeconomic inequities and provide transparency and stability in how local governments finance services and programs residents rely on. This is an intensive process, but through persistent review and collaboration, the Reform Group is taking the steps necessary to build an efficient and equitable system.
How Did the Reform Group Get Created?
In 2021, President Toni Preckwinkle created the Property Tax Reform Group, calling upon all elected officials involved in the Cook County property tax system to implement systemic change collaboratively. Unlike previous efforts to fix property taxes, the Reform Group involves all of the property tax offices and maintains a focus on outside research as the driving force behind all policy changes.
The formation of the Property Tax Reform Group was built on previous efforts by President Preckwinkle to evaluate the extent of the problems in the system. In 2018, she commissioned the Civic Consulting Alliance and Josh Myers, a nationally-recognized expert, to analyze the fairness and transparency of Cook County’s residential real estate assessment processes and outcomes. This study found that assessment regressivity and uniformity were well outside the industry standards for acceptability.
More on reform:
"The Tax Divide", a 2017 series from the Chicago Tribune and ProPublica, highlighted the shift in property tax burden from well-off homeowners with undervalued properties to low-income communities, which were generally overvalued. The series was influential in informing the public surrounding assessment fairness.