illinois property tax
Property Tax! Do these words ring a bell? Don?t think so. Some people might have heard about it and some maybe clueless. Well, the tax which the owner of a property pays is called as Property Tax. Every property has a certain value to it. The property tax is calculated on this value. The property could be anything. It could be land, building, cars or any other major household item. A Tax which is based on the value of the property is also called as Ad Valorem Tax. Property Tax is district level tax. The local government calls for the Property tax and in turn, the money collected is used for the development of the local area or district.
In the US state of Illinois, the state government receives a bulk of its revenue from property tax. Those who own land, building and other commercial properties are entitled to pay their property tax in a direct way and the ones who do not own such properties pay the tax through rent. According to the Illinois Property Taxing System, Property is classified and segregated in 2 categories. One is real property and the second is Personal property. Real property is the immovable asset. These include Commercial Buildings, Land, Roads, Highways, Pipelines and other fixed assets. Personal property includes all the movable assets of the owner. Cars, Trucks, Money, Household items like furniture, television, computers etc are accounted as Personal property. Under the Illinois Property Tax System, Real property is taxed and not personal property. This means that all the owners of companies and other major industrial corporations are supposed to pay the tax every year while the personal property owners are exempted from the tax. The personal property owners pay the tax indirectly, which is somewhat less when compared to the Real Property tax payers. But all the residents of a state pay the property tax, irrespective of the type of property they own. As mentioned before, the money thus collected is spent on the local district itself, especially on schools. The income received takes about 2 years to be distributed among the districts of the state of Illinois. The property tax rate of every district in Illinois is different.
During the First year, the tax from various properties is collected and their value is assessed and during the second year, calculations are made, after which the revenue is distributed equally among the various local districts. The correct word for the income received from property tax is Levy. The distribution of the revenue tax in the second year goes through various authorities. The first one is the County Clerk, then the Taxing Body and then the County Treasurer.
The assessment of the Property Tax has to be accurate and without any sort of errors. At first, the value of the property is written down in the assessment books of the local county. Based on this value, the local government decides how much tax the property owner will pay. In Illinois, the assessment duties of different properties are handled by different Tax Departments. For example: the environment related properties such as pollution control amenities and water treatment plants come under the assessment of the Illinois Department of Revenue. The money spent for the above problems are taxed by the Revenue Department. This department also assesses the operation of the Railroads. In Illinois, Real property such as Land, Building etc is assessed on the basis of its market value.
Market value refers to the present value of the property and also a value which has a good re-sale value in the market. The assessment of a Land or Commercial Building is calculated at 33 1/3 % of its market value. After the assessment has been done, the tax related papers and other information are sent for a review. Three people are appointed by the Illinois State Law for the review process. The members of the Review committee can also be elected if necessary. This often takes place in some districts. So what does the Review Committee do? Well, there are always some properties which are omitted from the assessment books. The Review Committee takes over the job assessing these properties. Secondly, some properties are often exempted from taxes. The members of the review board will give the final approval for all the exemptions. Sometimes, property owners may be unhappy with the tax assessments. In these cases, they have a right to appeal and justify their statements.
The owner of a property receives a Tax bill by the end of May. The owner has an option of paying the property tax in two installments. The first installment should be paid by June 1 and the second installment will be due by September 1. A tax bill includes the total rate of the tax along with the total tax which is due. It also contains the assessment of the property along with its index number and details about the installments. Senior citizens of IllinoisState> have a certain exemption on the property tax
The process of preparing taxes is quite taxing. Kudos to the people who painstaking assess, collect and distribute the revenue to the various parts of a state. The World runs because of the tax, which we pay. So it?s our duty to give back to the society which has given us so much, all throughout our lives.
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