Thirty Years of Runaway Property Taxes Demand Action

Column: Your Property Taxes with Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas

By Maria Pappas

Thirty Years of Runaway Property Taxes Demand Action

Since I came into this office in 1998 there’s been one constant, the inexorable rise of property tax bills.  To better understand why, my office conducted a 30-year analysis of property tax data. The findings make clear the current system is broken.

Over the past three decades, property taxes in Cook County have increased by nearly 182%, rising from $6.8 billion in 1995 to $19.2 billion in 2024. That’s twice the rate of inflation which rose by 91% during that same period.

And while average wages grew by about 161%, they still failed to keep pace with property taxes. This means property taxes are eating up an ever-larger portion of property owners’ incomes.

These tax hikes occurred despite the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), which was designed to cap tax increases at the rate of inflation or 5%, whichever is less. However, our study shows that local governments have taken advantage of legal loopholes to enact increases well beyond those limits.

School districts, which accounted for 55% of all property taxes in 2024, increased the taxes they impose on homeowners and businesses by nearly 190% over the 30-year period.

Taxes imposed by municipal governments — including cities, villages, and towns — accounted for 18% of the property tax tab. Their taxes jumped by more than 200% since 1995 going from $1.2 billion to more than $3.5 billion.

And the biggest percentage increase occurred in tax increment financing, or TIF, districts.  The TIF district share of the tax tab soared by more than 1,000% over the past three decades, increasing from $160 million to more than $1.8 billion. TIFs now account for 9.6% of the tax bill, compared to 2.4% in 1995.

Several factors contributed to these increases. Home rule municipalities are not bound by PTELL, giving them broader authority to raise taxes. Local governments can also exceed PTELL limits through voter-approved referendums. TIF districts operate outside PTELL restrictions, and when they close, their revenues can be added to local tax levies. Additional exceptions — such as exemptions for certain bond issuances and provisions allowing taxing bodies to slightly increase future taxes to “recapture” refunded taxes — further weaken the law’s effectiveness.

At the same time, local governments face significant financial pressures. Illinois provides just 24% of K-12 public education funding, the lowest share of any state, which shifts more of the burden onto local property taxes. In Chicago, the situation is compounded by the responsibility for funding public school pensions at the local level. Municipalities are also dealing with increased pension obligations and reductions in the share of state revenue they receive.

Concerns about rising property taxes are not new. Reform efforts date back to 1982, yet many failed to gain approval or produce lasting change. As a result, property taxes have continued to rise. Illinois now has the second-highest residential property tax rate in the nation, while Chicago has the highest commercial and second-highest industrial property tax rates.

I believe this moment presents an opportunity for meaningful reform. The Illinois Department of Revenue is now studying the property tax system, and I hope that effort leads to real reform, rather than just producing another study that sits on a shelf. The time to act is now!

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