Tax raises, breaks on the agenda

SPRINGFIELD -- If a property boom goes bust in Cook County, homeowners shouldn't have to wait three years to see savings on their tax bills, lawmakers said Wednesday.

A measure that passed the Illinois House would require all residential property in Cook County to be reassessed by October and then again each subsequent year. Cook County is currently divvied up into three sections to rotate yearly property assessments.

State Rep. Kevin Joyce, a Chicago Democrat pushing the proposal, said he wants to make sure Cook County homeowners are assessed true market value every year, "not something explosive three years ago and now 10 to 15 to 20 percent lower."

However, the Cook County Assessor's Office says this is an unrealistic and costly feat.

"To get it done by October, it would cost $10 million. That's 50 percent of our yearly budget," said spokesman Lucio Guerrero. "I think it'd be interesting to see if the Cook County Board wanted to give us $10 million to do it."

The proposal spells out that the state will not reimburse the assessor's office for the cost of assessing all of Cook County at once.

Some suburban lawmakers had concerns that businesses haven't been included in Joyce's plan.

"When we assess and levy, it's all about your slice of the pie," said state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. "It seems to me with only doing one segment of it, it might throw the whole thing out of whack."

The change in Cook County assessments, which now moves to the state Senate, was one of several tax issues lawmakers considered Wednesday.

An Illinois House committee endorsed a constitutional amendment that would let voters decide if people making more than $250,000 a year should have their state income tax rate doubled to 6 percent.

The proposal -- approved 7-6 along party lines -- is envisioned as raising $3 billion annually for education spending, road construction and tax breaks for those making less than $250,000. If approved by the House and Senate before May 4, it'd be on November ballot.

In addition, the state sales tax would be lifted for back-to-school shopping under a proposal that the Illinois Senate approved 58-0 and sent to the state House. The tax-free shopping spree would be the first week in August and cover school supplies, clothing, footwear and computers.

Several other states have enacted similar tax holidays, and while they've been proposed here before, so far they've never become law.