The Civic Federation annually releases a report on consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. Consumer taxes are tied to the use or consumption of certain goods and services that can be charged directly to consumers through retail transactions or passed on to consumers by businesses or governments. Consumer taxes in Chicago are imposed at various levels of government, including the City of Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois and the federal government. This blog highlights changes in three…
The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Lincoln Institute) released last week an evaluation of common property tax relief programs used across the United States. The report also makes recommendations for the best practices in promoting a property tax system that is fair and also retains the ability to provide sustainable revenue. The Civic Federation has long supported some of the reforms recommended in the report, such as circuit breakers. For Illinois policymakers, we believe the report is an…
Click here to read the full report. Click here to read the press release for this analysis. MAJOR FINDINGS Effective property tax rates are a measure of property tax burden for homeowners and businesses. They translate the tax rates on property tax bills into rates that reflect the percentage of full market value that a property owed in taxes for a given year. This report, produced annually by the Civic Federation, estimates the tax year 2018 (taxes payable in 2019) effective rates for…
Click here to read this issue brief. SUMMARY This annual report lists and describes selected consumer taxes within the City of Chicago. For ease of use by non-specialists, the taxes in this report are grouped under the following categories: sales taxes, tobacco and nicotine-related taxes, beverage-related taxes, utility-related taxes, accommodations-related taxes, transportation-related taxes and other taxes. It is important to note for tax professionals that the groupings are not related to…
Annually the Civic Federation releases a report on consumer taxes in the City of Chicago. Consumer taxes are tied to the use or consumption of certain goods and services that can be charged directly to consumers through retail transactions or passed onto consumers by businesses or governments. Consumer taxes in Chicago are imposed at various levels of government including by the City of Chicago, Cook County, the State of Illinois and federal government. This blog highlights the changes that…
Cook County government has historically kept its property tax levy relatively flat, especially when compared to the other largest government bodies in Cook County including the City of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, both of which have increased their property tax revenue significantly in recent years. A study recently released by Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas finds that total taxes billed by all taxing districts for all property in Cook County increased from $7.85 billion in 2000 (for…
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting January 1, 2021 includes a property tax increase of $93.9 million for a total property tax levy of $1.6 billion. This blog post will explore the three component parts of the increase. The City of Chicago, as a home rule unit of government, is not subject to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) but does have its own self-imposed property tax limitation that is modeled on PTELL. Local governments that are…
Earlier in 2020 the Civic Federation released a series of three blog posts discussing various aspects of the proposal to amend the Illinois Constitution to allow a graduated income tax and the proposed rate structure. Those posts have been among the most viewed in the history of civicfed.org, clearly responding to a need for independent and dependable information on the proposal. The Federation collected those posts together and added additional analysis over the following months to create the…
Click here to read the full issue brief. Click here to view the report landing page. In advance of Election Day 2020, the Civic Federation today released an educational issue brief on a proposed ballot initiative to amend the Illinois Constitution to allow for a graduated income tax. While the Federation recently took a position against the tax amendment, the report is based on blog posts, research and other material compiled before that policy decision. As discussed in the report’s…
Click here to read the full issue brief. Click here to read a press release for this issue brief. SUMMARY More than 50 years after Illinois began taxing residents’ income, voters on November 3, 2020 will decide whether the structure of the income tax should undergo a major change. The issue is highly controversial, and the decision will have a long-lasting impact on the State’s finances and its taxpayers. Since Illinois’ income tax was adopted in 1969, the State has had a flat income tax.…
