August 26, 2009—Issue 24

This edition of the TFI Report provides synopses of several tax-related bills the Governor recently signed that are of interest to TFI members:

·         SB 89 (Sen. Gary Dahl & Rep. Careen Gordon)—Property Tax Settlements in a County with a Petrochemical Facility: SB 89 allows for a real property tax assessment settlement agreement in a county with less than 1 million inhabitants that contains real property used for natural gas extraction and fractionation or olefin and polymer manufacturing where litigation was pending on or after January 1, 2003.  This legislation will facilitate settlement of litigation in Grundy County.  On August 24, the Governor signed the bill, which became P.A. 96-0609.

·         SB 1739 (Sen. Jeff Schoenberg & House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie)—Broadcast sourcing & Catholic Charities Property Tax Exemption:  SB 1739 is a bill that regards two things:  (1) broadcast sourcing and (2) continuation of an exemption on property held by Catholic Charities.  On August 25, the Governor signed the bill, which became P.A. 96-0763.

·         SB 1975 (Sen. Don Harmon & Rep. John Bradley)—REIT Bill:  SB 1975 is the real estate investment trusts (“REIT”) bill proposed by TFI.  SB 1975 attempts to make definitional changes regarding what constitutes a captive REIT so as not to regard legitimate REITs, in this case certain REITs owned by partnerships and certain foreign entities, as captive REITS, which were the focus of the 2007 tax legislation.  On August 24, the Governor signed the bill, which became P.A. 96-0641.

·         SB 2125 (Sen. Lou Viverito & House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie)—Cook County Property Tax Installments:  SB 2125 is the product of a Property Tax Advisory Council convened by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in 2008.  Under the bill, beginning in 2010, the first installment of property tax bills in Cook County would be computed at 55% (increased from the current 50%) of the total of each tax bill for the preceding year.  The purpose of the bill is to reduce the payment pressure on taxpayers when actual tax numbers are calculated and reflected in the second bill.  The bill was proposed by the City of Chicago and supported by TFI and the Illinois Property Tax Lawyers Association.  On August 14, the Governor signed the bill, which became P.A. 96-0490.

Lawsuit Filed Against Capital Bills

On August 25, Rocky Wirtz and Wirtz Beverage Illinois filed a lawsuit against the Governor and others challenging the constitutionality of much of the capital package.  The lawsuit generally alleges several violations of the Illinois Constitution, including violations of the Single Subject Rule and the Uniformity Clause.

Cook County Multiplier Increases to 2.9786

The Department of Revenue has announced that the final 2008 Cook County multiplier is 2.9786, which is an increase from the final 2007 Cook County multiplier of 2.8439.  Information regarding the multiplier may be accessed at the following link:  click here.

Recently Proposed Rulemaking

The Department of Revenue recently filed a rulemaking to implement Section 2-54 of the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act, which was added in P.A. 94-1021 (effective July 12, 2006).   The Section creates a Retailers’ Occupation Tax exemption for a “qualified sale” of building materials to be incorporated into real estate as part of an industrial or commercial project within a River Edge Redevelopment Zone.  The proposed rulemaking can be found at 33 Ill. Reg. 11,921-11,937 (August 21, 2009) and also accessed at this link:  click here.