The property tax is an ad valorem tax, meaning that the tax is based
upon the value of property. It is a local tax imposed by local
government taxing districts (e.g., school districts, municipalities,
counties) and administered by local officials (e.g. township
assessors, chief county assessment officers, local boards of review,
county collectors).
Two component activities affect each taxpayer’s property tax bill:
- Determining the amount of revenue (taxes) needed to operate government, and
- Apportioning the burden of those taxes among taxpayers.
The property tax cycle begins with the assessment. Property is to be
assessed with respect to its value and ownership on January 1 of the
assessment year. Local assessing officials determine most property
values. The chief county assessment officer ensures the assessment
levels are uniform and at the legal assessment level by applying a
uniform percentage increase or decrease (equalized values) to all
assessments in the jurisdiction.
County boards of review determine whether local assessing officials
have calculated assessed values correctly, equalize assessments within
the county, determine if any property was omitted, decide if
homesteads exemptions should be granted and review non-homestead
exemption applications. Property owners and local taxing districts may
appeal unfair assessments to their local county boards of review.
The Illinois Department of Revenue then equalizes assessments at the
county level and issues a state equalization factor for each county.
Each taxing district then determines the revenues required from
property taxes to support operations in order to formulate a levy
request. The county clerk at this point applies the state equalization
factor, calculates the tax rate needed to generate the amount of
revenue requested in the levy, apportions the levy among all taxable
property in the taxing district according to their equalized assessed
values so that the tax bills can be computed.
The county collector prepares all tax bills, receives property tax
payments from property owners, distributes taxes to the local
government taxing districts that levied them, and administers sales of
liens on real estate parcels due to non payment of taxes.
A document has been provided from the Illinois Department of Revenue
for additional information regarding an overview of property taxes.
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