Monthly Archives: June 2016

Cook County Tax Officials Make Multimillion Dollar Error

Cook County Property Tax Multimillion Dollar MistakeRepublican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has garnered much negative press coverage over his alleged avoidance of paying his fair share of Cook County property taxes. The Chicago Sun-Times has reported that Trump hired a Chicago firm to represent him in his successful efforts to slash the property taxes on Trump International Hotel & Tower by $11.7 million (or 39%) over seven years.

Oops!

Although he openly admits that he tries to minimize his tax burden, it turns out that Trump has been a victim of ineptitude on the county’s part. As the Chicago Sun-Times reports, “Cook County tax officials mistakenly believed billionaire Donald Trump didn’t pay all the property taxes owed on his namesake Chicago skyscraper, shorting schools and other government agencies. They were wrong.”
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Why the Cook County Assessor Wants You to Appeal

Cook County Assessor's OfficeThe National Taxpayers Union has estimated that as many as 60% of taxable properties in the United States are over-assessed, but fewer than 5% of property owners nationwide challenge their assessments.

The reasons for this include being too busy, lacking awareness and knowledge of the process, assuming that an appeal would be a waste of time because it likely would be unsuccessful, and not paying attention to deadlines. In actuality, appealing your property tax assessment might save you hundreds or thousands of dollars a year – and the Cook County Assessor’s office wants you to appeal, even though they’re the ones assessing your property…
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As Cook County’s Big Property Tax Hike Is Felt, Kensington May Be Able To Help

Cook County Property Tax ReliefOn June 13, the Cook County Clerk’s office released 2015 property tax rate figures for the whole county.

On average, Chicago homeowners will have to pay 12.8% more in property taxes than they did at this time last year based on the new tax rates, which includes both the value of your home and the land it’s on.
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Cook County Assessor’s Office Opens Leyden Township for 2016 Property Tax Appeals

The Cook County Assessor’s Office has announced that assessment notices were mailed on June 15, 2016, for Leyden Township.Cook County Property Tax Appeal

The deadline to file a 2016 property tax appeal at the Cook County Assessor’s Office is July 15, 2016.

Leyden Township valuation statistics can be found here.

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Appeal Your Commercial Property Taxes or Lose Big

Cook County Commercial Property Tax AppealCommercial property owners in Chicago are still reeling from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $588 million property tax increase, which will be phased in over four years. As Crain’s Chicago Business reported last October, the 18% rate hike will add millions of dollars to the taxes of Chicago’s largest downtown office towers.

But one billionaire real estate mogul from New York will likely find a way to minimize paying his share of the increase.
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