Aurora homeowners, Chicago commercial owners fare poorly in property tax report

The results are consistent with previous studies comparing property tax rates, but come at a time of great concern for many property owners: such as Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi re-evaluates real estate in the city of Chicago.

For the past two years, Kaegi has been increasing commercial ratings in suburban Cook County. Many owners of apartments, offices and other investment properties in the city fear that he will do the same to them, resulting in large tax increases for the next year. Recently released figures for Rogers Park suggest these fears may be justified.

The new study found that the effective tax rate for 2020 – the tax charge on a property as a percentage of its value – for commercial real estate in Chicago worth $ 1 million or more was 4.03 percent, compared to an average of 1.95 percent for Chicago all cities included in the report. Only Detroit was higher at 4.16 percent.

Chicago’s tax rate is so high because local governments, including the city, county, and Chicago Public Schools, have high spending, and because the tax system is structured to shift more of the tax burden onto commercial real estate, it said Report.

While this is bad news for landlords, it is good news for homeowners who pay less tax. Chicago ranks fifth among 53 cities for a metric that measures homeowners’ preferential tax treatment.

Still, Chicago homeowners can’t be too happy. The city ranks 15th in the effective tax rates for apartments with an average value. The city’s rate in 2020 was 1.54 percent, slightly above the average for all 53 cities of 1.38 percent.

It’s much worse in Aurora, which reportedly had a 3.25 percent tax rate. The main reason why the city’s tax rate is so high is that local governments in the western suburbs rely heavily on property taxes to fund their operations, the report said.

Fed up with taxes and the Midwestern winters, Aurora residents might imagine moving to a warmer area in a city with low taxes. One option: Honolulu, which had the lowest tax rate last year: just 0.31 percent.