Reduce Your Property Tax

By Scott Bagnall

The book is written specific to Illinois law and procedure although many of the concepts will have a general application to other jurisdictions. Scott Bagnall has included all of the relevant information about the Illinois property tax system to give the taxpayer winning property tax strategies and solutions. The book further provides valuable guidance and reference to the local elected officials who manage agencies that are supported by property tax. Reduce Your Property Tax will provide the information and tools for the reader to attain a master level of understanding the property tax system. Taxpayers should feel comfortable with analyzing their own assessed values and have sufficient competency to file and manage their own appeals. Elected officials should be better positioned to represent their constituency with a better basis of how and why the property tax system functions. Attorneys should be able to represent tax payers in appeals and render competent property tax advice. Business owners should better understand the impact of property tax on their budgets. And everyone should understand the responsibilities, duties, and limitations of each party involved in the tax system. Summary of the BookI begin with a historical background of property taxation for it is the past rationale and experiences that form the foundation for today's property tax system. I then move to assessment and reassessment, mass appraisal valuation, and assessed value. Then to the creation and use of Equalized Assessed Value [EAV], residential exemptions, and appeals. All of this is to see how the total taxable value of the real property within a taxing district is determined. As somewhat of a sidebar, but nevertheless included as part of tax bill calculation, I will explain some of the most misunderstood aspects of property taxation, such as the Tax Increment Financing [TIF] District. Once the taxing bodies have filed their levies with the County Clerk, and the Assessor has filed the individual Equalized Assessed Values for the district with the County Clerk, the Clerk can then calculate the tax rate. The tax rate is calculated by dividing the total levy within a tax district by the total EAV, less exemptions, within the same tax district. The Treasurer applies the tax rate to the individual parcel's EAV and mails the bills. The tax rate in many jurisdictions, including Illinois, is merely a ratio of value to expense. A relatively low tax rate indicates a higher total property value relative to the total levies. In Cook County at least, a relatively low rate can indicate a higher commercial presence (because Cook County business pays at least 2.5 times what Cook County residential pays per dollar value). I will also discuss tax cap legislation, tax collection, tax sales and the duties of clerk, treasurer and collector.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0692597638
• ISBN13: 9780692597637
• Release Date: January 2016
• Publisher: Golden Monkey Ventures
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"