The $2 Billion Wealth Transfer: How Cook County’s Property Tax Appeals System Rewards Businesses at the Expense of Homeowners

By Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas

After analyzing over 2 million Cook County property tax appeals filed between 2021 and 2023, researchers in my office uncovered a troubling trend: the system shifted nearly $2 billion in taxes from businesses onto the backs of homeowners, hitting low-income minority homeowners the hardest.

This study exposed a stark imbalance in how property tax appeals impact businesses versus homeowners. Over the three-year period, businesses shaved more than $3 billion off their tax bills through appeals, shifting nearly $2 billion of that amount onto homeowners.

This wealth transfer led to a 7% hike in overall property tax bills for homeowners while businesses enjoyed a double-digit drop in their collective tax bill.

Simply put, for homeowners, the numbers are ugly.

- Businesses collectively reduced their tax bills by $3.26 billion through appeals, while residential property owners saw their tax bills rise by $1.91 billion.
- This $3 billion reduction in business property taxes represents a 12.47% drop in their overall tax burden, which was partly offset by a 6.88% increase in residential property tax bills.
- Nearly 64% of business owners filed property tax appeals, compared to just 27% of homeowners.

And when we broke out the numbers based on income and race, the trends were similarly troubling.

- In communities where the median income is below $50,000, property tax bills jumped by 9.76%, compared to a 5.22% increase in neighborhoods with incomes exceeding $150,000.
- Nearly 46% of households in high-income areas appealed their assessments, compared to just 10.95% of those in low-income neighborhoods.

In Black and Latino communities, it’s clear the system isn’t working properly.

- Only 10.85% of Black homeowners and 14.06% of Latino homeowners appealed their taxes compared to 35.5% of White homeowners.
- Majority Black and Latino neighborhoods represented the 10 areas with the lowest appeal rates.

That’s a problem because our study shows one of the best ways to lower your property tax bill is by appealing to the Assessor’s Office, The Cook County Board of Review or both. The study revealed that tax bills for residential property owners who appealed went up by about half as much as bills for those who didn’t appeal.

So, if you receive a reassessment notice in the mail this year and believe it’s too high, you have 30 days to appeal to the Assessor’s Office. The last date to file is printed on your notice. If a property owner doesn’t appeal to the Assessor, or doesn’t agree with the Assessor’s appeal decision, the owner then has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Review.

What’s also clear from our study is the need for reform. The tax burden transfer from commercial to residential properties widens the wealth gap. It highlights what right now is a regressive property tax appeals system that often punishes homeowners, particularly in lower-income and minority communities.

That’s why we must strive to fix Cook County’s tax appeals system before it causes even more harm to those who can least afford it. Ultimately, the solution lies in lessening the business valuation reductions that have fueled the inequities.

A county commissioned analysis recommended that the Assessor’s Office and Board of Review work to share data and standardize their methodology and valuation practices. Rightly so, because collaborating would eliminate the massive business reductions, and reform a property tax appeals system that’s working for the “haves” but isn’t working for the “have nots.”

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning opinion columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

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