It Ain't All Big Hair and Cadillacs

Sun-Times columnist Monroe Anderson’s commentary January 7, Disappoint a lawyer: Cap property tax hikes was a justifiable anguished and sagacious retort about the property tax mess we all face.

As a principal of a property tax company, a mother of three children under age 10 in private elementary schools, and a Chicago homeowner facing a 95% tax increase, I too have concerns about solicitations and representations made for property tax appeals that appear disingenuous or misleading.

A reputable firm refrains from enticing taxpayers with promises to reduce their property taxes by specific amounts and should not require any up-front fees.

Moreover, I have not found one tax or law firm involved in any pro-taxpayer reform legislation. None is involved in advocating for across-the-board professional and ethical standards applied to lawyers, consultants and elected assessment officials. All property tax appeal practioners should be certified, as in other states, and legislation should put an end to all contributions made by tax lawyers and practitioners to elected officials who preside over tax appeal cases.

Too often, the real estate tax appeal system is steeped in politics and clout, as
recently profiled by the Chicago Sun-Times about an alderman’s questionably low property taxes.

The encouraging news is that more taxpayers are filing tax appeals independent of tax services and overcoming the perception that tax appeal services are the exclusive domain of lawyers.
Still, in Cook County attorneys often have managed to transform real estate appraisal and accounting practices, fundamental skills used in evaluating and developing property values into high-priced “legal” practice.

The property tax appeal and reassessment systems must be structured fairly with well-defined rules. If not the public confidence in the tax system breaks down. Appeals expertise should not be shrouded in legalistic jargon or shaded by politics. Tax appeal rules should be standard, accessible, and politically impregnable so taxpayers can have the confidence to fight for themselves.

Unfortunately, while property tax appeal services are routine big-ticket cost to large property owners, the same services for seniors or smaller homeowners are frequently not affordable. In the end lawyers and tax practitioners benefit from ----what Anderson aptly describes as a “contorted and capricious tax system” ---at a high cost to taxpayers and assessment administrators.

As a tax Lobbyist, I have worked for reform legislation in Springfield and Cook County that would require professional certification standards. A volley of tax lawyers protested the passage of this bill. I assisted in the defeat of legislation that would restrain jurisdictional powers of the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, an agency that does not take contributions from those practicing before them, and which has proven to be the most effective and fair appeal agency in the state. Cook County elected assessment officials rallied unsuccessful for the bill’s defeat.
Unethical profiteering from property tax appeals should be exposed, but we should not be distracted from the most important issue---reforming the biggest, most complex, error prone and politically permeated tax assessment and appeal systems in the country.

As a co-drafter of the study Taxation Without Representation—the Illinois Property Tax System, sponsored by the Illinois Taxpayers Federation, and as a former case decision maker of the Cook County Board of Review, I know that triennial property tax reassessments have never been effectively capped as they are level restricted in a majority of states.

Is it any wonder that taxpayers who have not been able to pay their tax bills increased 35% this year? According the county treasurer over 112,000 struggling taxpayers in Cook County owe over $275 million dollars in unpaid property taxes in 2006.

The Illinois revenue system, especially the property tax system, has become a gigantic beast without a master. I encourage taxpayers to vote yes for an Illinois Constitutional Convention placed on the ballot in 2008 automatically every 20 years.

A statewide con con of citizen delegates, unbowed to political contributions, will address these serious state issues head on since we have not gotten meaningful property tax or education reform from our lawmakers in decades.

I would also urge any taxpayer fed up and serious about accomplishable tax reform to visit the Citizens for Fair Assessments & Taxes (CFAT) website at www.FairTaxes.Net to obtain a petition that calls for caps on all property assessments at 7% annually or at 21% in triennial reassessment years.

Andrea A. Raila & Associates 312-587-9494676 North LaSalle Street, Suite 520 Chicago, IL 60610E-Mail: ARaila@aol.com Web Site: http://www.taxestoohigh.com