Can Cook County Retaliate for Property Tax Appeals?

A question that we get a lot about appealing property taxes in Cook County is whether or not the County Assessor or anyone else can retaliate for a successful property tax appeal and reduction.

Since we started working on property tax appeals, we’ve found no evidence of retaliatory measures of any kind.

Instead, we’ve discovered the opposite.

Cook County Wants You to Appeal

Many of the 17 Cook County Board of Commissioners regularly promote the idea of appealing your property taxes by hosting seminars on how to do so.

The mechanism for determining your property taxes is an automated, mass appraisal system and can often make mistakes because it works with information that is outdated for your home or that of comparable homes or “comps” (e.g. home additions, fire or flood damage, vacancies in apartment buildings of six units or less).

The only downside is that they recommend that you do it yourself, which could successfully reduce your property tax bill but leave hundreds or thousands on the table.

Cases of Property Tax Spikes

Some cry foul when, after a successful appeal, they later see a significant increase in their home’s assessed value when it’s re-assessed triennially. However, property tax spikes are reflective of increasing property values throughout your township and the increasing need of the City of Chicago and Cook County to raise property taxes to cover increasing spending and unfunded pension obligations.

Thus, these spikes affect everyone. If they don’t, then it may be grounds to appeal your property taxes again. In fact, we recommend appealing every year, with both the Cook County Assessor and the Board of Review – however, only after we determine whether or not an appeal will be successful with our Cook County Property Tax Algorithm.

Fear of Drawing Attention

Some may feel their home is under-assessed and that they’ve successfully “flown under the radar.” While this situation is highly unlikely, this is why we run your information through our Cook County Property Tax Algorithm that predetermines how much we predict you may save from a successful appeal. If it says you will obtain little or no savings, then we simply recommend against appealing as it would likely waste both our time and yours.

Don’t Fall Victim to Preconceived Notions

When it comes to property taxes and grounds for appeal, numbers provide the answer. It’s not a subjective opinion. It’s objective and we make it objective, which is why we only contact those for whom we believe a successful case can be made for a property tax reduction.

Get your free property tax reduction estimate