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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives recognize the hardships Illinois property | ||||||
4 | owners face in the economic climate of today; and
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5 | WHEREAS, The National and State economies are in a | ||||||
6 | recession which began, in part, by the collapse of the housing | ||||||
7 | market; and
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8 | WHEREAS, This collapse has resulted in the fall of many | ||||||
9 | Illinois property owners' property values, which has triggered | ||||||
10 | property tax rates to increase to keep Illinois local | ||||||
11 | governments' revenues stable; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Illinois local governments rely heavily on | ||||||
13 | property taxes as revenue; in 2007, property taxes accounted | ||||||
14 | for 68% of local governments' general own-source revenue; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The condition of property values decreasing and | ||||||
16 | property taxes increasing is causing financial problems for | ||||||
17 | many Illinois property owners, and is resulting in many | ||||||
18 | homeowners losing or being at risk of losing their homes; and
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19 | WHEREAS, The 96th General Assembly passed and Governor | ||||||
20 | signed into law Public Act 96-1418 in response to the concerns |
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1 | of Illinois property owners; and
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2 | WHEREAS, The goals of Public Act 96-1418 included expanding | ||||||
3 | the Returning Veterans Homestead Exemption to reduce the | ||||||
4 | property tax liability of a returning veteran in the year after | ||||||
5 | the veteran has returned home; lowering the service-connected | ||||||
6 | disability requirement for the Disabled Veterans Standard | ||||||
7 | Homestead Exemption to 70% from 75% to increase the number of | ||||||
8 | veterans who are eligible for the exemption; and extending the | ||||||
9 | Alternative General Homestead Exemption for 3 more years; and
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10 | WHEREAS, In addition, Public Act 96-1418 requires: (i) | ||||||
11 | county boards of review to make their rules and procedures | ||||||
12 | available to the public; (ii) county assessors to make a | ||||||
13 | plain-English explanation of equalization factors available to | ||||||
14 | the public; and (iii) county assessors to make an additional | ||||||
15 | set of disclosures with a change in assessment notice; and | ||||||
16 | WHEREAS, Public Act 96-1418 also created 7 Taxpayer Action | ||||||
17 | Boards; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, Taxpayer Action Boards have the following goals: | ||||||
19 | (i) to oversee the implementation of P.A. 96-122 with an | ||||||
20 | emphasis on the transparency and disclosure provisions of that | ||||||
21 | Public Act; (ii) to make recommendations about other useful | ||||||
22 | disclosures in addition to those required by P.A. 96-122; and |
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1 | (iii) to make recommendations concerning the implementation of | ||||||
2 | the transparency reform provisions of P.A. 96-122 in their | ||||||
3 | respective counties; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board is required to conduct | ||||||
5 | a study that critically evaluates the manner in which its | ||||||
6 | county assesses residential property and examines the accuracy | ||||||
7 | of computer-assisted mass appraisal; as part of its study, each | ||||||
8 | Board shall conduct at least 2 public hearings; and | ||||||
9 | WHEREAS, Each Taxpayer Action Board must report to the | ||||||
10 | Governor and the General Assembly summarizing its findings, | ||||||
11 | must maintain and administer a website cataloguing taxpayer | ||||||
12 | assistance information linked to the Department of Revenue's | ||||||
13 | website, must propose to its county government changes to | ||||||
14 | property tax policies and procedures, if appropriate, and must | ||||||
15 | propose to the Department of Revenue changes to property tax | ||||||
16 | policies and procedures, if appropriate; and
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17 | WHEREAS, A Taxpayer Action Board was to be established in | ||||||
18 | each of the following counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, | ||||||
19 | Lake, McHenry, and Will; each Board was to be composed of 7 | ||||||
20 | members; and
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21 | WHEREAS, The 7 members of each board are to be named by the | ||||||
22 | Governor and serve 2-years terms; and
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1 | WHEREAS, As of January 7, 2013, there have been no | ||||||
2 | appointments made by Governor Quinn to any of the 7 boards; and
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3 | WHEREAS, No studies, reports, or findings have been | ||||||
4 | published; therefore, be it
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5 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
6 | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
7 | we call on Governor Quinn to immediately appoint members to the | ||||||
8 | Taxpayer Action Boards to research the property tax system in | ||||||
9 | each of their respective counties to help identify ways to make | ||||||
10 | the systems more transparent; and be it further
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11 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
12 | presented to the Governor.
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