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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives recognize the hardships Illinois property
4owners face in the economic climate of today; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The National and State economies are in a
6recession which began, in part, by the collapse of the housing
7market; and
 
8    WHEREAS, This collapse has resulted in the fall of many
9Illinois property owners' property values, which has triggered
10property tax rates to increase to keep Illinois local
11governments' revenues stable; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Illinois local governments rely heavily on
13property taxes as revenue; in 2007, property taxes accounted
14for 68% of local governments' general own-source revenue; and
 
15    WHEREAS, The condition of property values decreasing and
16property taxes increasing is causing financial problems for
17many Illinois property owners, and is resulting in many
18homeowners losing or being at risk of losing their homes; and
 
19    WHEREAS, The 96th General Assembly passed and Governor
20signed into law Public Act 96-1418 in response to the concerns

 

 

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1of Illinois property owners; and
 
2    WHEREAS, The goals of Public Act 96-1418 included expanding
3the Returning Veterans Homestead Exemption to reduce the
4property tax liability of a returning veteran in the year after
5the veteran has returned home; lowering the service-connected
6disability requirement for the Disabled Veterans Standard
7Homestead Exemption to 70% from 75% to increase the number of
8veterans who are eligible for the exemption; and extending the
9Alternative General Homestead Exemption for 3 more years; and
 
10    WHEREAS, In addition, Public Act 96-1418 requires: (i)
11county boards of review to make their rules and procedures
12available to the public; (ii) county assessors to make a
13plain-English explanation of equalization factors available to
14the public; and (iii) county assessors to make an additional
15set of disclosures with a change in assessment notice; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Public Act 96-1418 also created 7 Taxpayer Action
17Boards; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Taxpayer Action Boards have the following goals:
19(i) to oversee the implementation of P.A. 96-122 with an
20emphasis on the transparency and disclosure provisions of that
21Public Act; (ii) to make recommendations about other useful
22disclosures in addition to those required by P.A. 96-122; and

 

 

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1(iii) to make recommendations concerning the implementation of
2the transparency reform provisions of P.A. 96-122 in their
3respective counties; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board is required to conduct
5a study that critically evaluates the manner in which its
6county assesses residential property and examines the accuracy
7of computer-assisted mass appraisal; as part of its study, each
8Board shall conduct at least 2 public hearings; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board must report to the
10Governor and the General Assembly summarizing its findings,
11must maintain and administer a website cataloguing taxpayer
12assistance information linked to the Department of Revenue's
13website, must propose to its county government changes to
14property tax policies and procedures, if appropriate, and must
15propose to the Department of Revenue changes to property tax
16policies and procedures, if appropriate; and
 
17    WHEREAS, A Taxpayer Action Board was to be established in
18each of the following counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall,
19Lake, McHenry, and Will; each Board was to be composed of 7
20members; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The 7 members of each board are to be named by the
22Governor and serve 2-years terms; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, As of February 14, 2012 there have been no
2appointments made by Governor Quinn to any of the 7 boards; and
 
3    WHEREAS, No studies, reports, or findings have been
4published; therefore, be it
 
5    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
6NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
7we call on Governor Quinn to immediately appoint members to the
8Taxpayer Action Boards to research the property tax system in
9each of their respective counties to help identify ways to make
10the systems more transparent; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12presented to the Governor.