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Pappas urges property owners to pay First Installment tax bills by Tuesday, March 4 due date

First Installment Tax Year 2024 property taxes are due Tuesday, March 4, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas reminded taxpayers today.

The Treasurer’s Office posted nearly 1.8 million bills online at cookcountytreasurer.com in early December and mailed printed bills to taxpayers in late January.

The Treasurer’s Office accepts partial payments from those unable to pay the full amount. After March 4, any balance due is charged 0.75% per month, as required by state law.

Illinois lawmakers in 2023 approved reforms championed by Pappas that reduced the interest rate penalty from 1.5% to 0.75% per month, or from 18% to 9% annually.To make a payment or download a copy of your tax bill, visit cookcountytreasurer.com:

• Select the blue box labeled “Pay Online for Free”
• Search by property address or enter your Property Index Number
• Follow the steps as directed; you will need to know your account number and your bank’s routing number.

You can also use the website to:

• Search for $122 million in available refunds;
• Check to see if you are missing out on $33 million in tax exemptions, which can lower the tax bill;
• Read the Pappas Studies, a series of research projects that includes a 20-year history of Cook County property taxes.

Also, the office offers a free Payment Plan Calculator to property owners who are late paying their taxes for the second installment due later this year.  The Calculator enables taxpayers who’ve fallen behind to budget their property tax expenses through monthly or twice monthly payments. 

A short video tutorial is available walking taxpayers through the steps of using the Payment Plan Calculator in English, Spanish or Polish.

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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.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

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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