Gary H. Smith Addresses Cook County Assessor’s Re-Opening of Appeals Calendar
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi has recklessly re-opened his appeals calendar, and as a result, many taxpayers will find themselves in the uncomfortable position of potentially increasing their exposures to the Covid 19 virus by exercising their rights of appeal.
- Chicago, IL (1888PressRelease) April 15, 2020 - I am Gary H. Smith, an attorney that represents thousands of property tax payers in their appeals each year, and I’m telling you that the Assessor is not offering any assessment relief that will help the Cook County taxpayers when they need it most… in their upcoming property tax bills. Everything he’s talking about will impact next year’s tax payments only.
Because of his reopening, much of the county will now have to file their appeals by May 1st , and taxpayers believing they need an appraisal will be forced to either increase their potential exposures by allowing an appraiser into their property, or forego that argument of value.
Only on-line appeals will be accepted, so taxpayers that don’t have access to the internet will lose their right to appeal, or will have to venture out to find a public wi-fi location from which to file their appeal.
And even so, the Assessor’s announced adjustment will be meaningless to your final tax bill. Any assessment adjustment applied in the same percentage to all properties in a taxing district will just cause that district’s tax rate to be adjusted upward to make up for the apparent benefit given. His covid “adjustment” is just more of the same tax shell game assessor Kaegi has accused everyone else of playing.
Assessor Kaegi is greatly expanding his authority, all in the name of “emergency police powers.” But the Assessor is granted no such emergency police powers. Instead, Assessor Kaegi is really just executing Rahm Emmanuel’s first law of politics, which states: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
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