Easing the tax burden on south Cook County businesses will take a broad-based, bipartisan effort, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan told a delegation of Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce members.
Business loss has become an issue in south Cook County, a region surrounded by lower-tax areas, said Michael Seward, president and chief executive officer of the Southland Chamber.
The meeting last week with Houlihan was arranged to “talk through the problems and needs that we have for property tax reform,” Seward said. “We are dedicated to making something happen in this area.”
The loss of a commercial and industrial base is not confined to poorer municipalities, such as Ford Heights or Robbins, but also strikes more prosperous communities, such as Homewood, Flossmoor and South Holland, said Bert Docter, a South Holland businessman and a member of Gov. Jim Edgar’s 17-member commission studying property tax reform.
Seward said research shows Cook County’s business taxes are more burdensome than those in other regions. He said a $2 million commercial property that pays $158,817 in taxes in Cook County would pay $66,000 in Will County, $40,667 in DuPage County, $53,000 in Kane County and $75,000 in Lake County, Ind.
“There’s no question the south suburbs have a very, very serious problem (losing business investment),” Houlihan said.
Solving that problem will take regional and bipartisan cooperation, he said.
“We all benefit from a growing base. You just can’t have this growth spurring out to the northwest. You have to have it balanced . . . to have healthy growth.”