Taxation appeals without representation
In case you needed another reminder that there are no known life forms south of Interstate 80, there was a news item about a system intended to give taxpayers facing big tax bills a better chance when dealing with the Illinois Department of Revenue. It only exists in Chicago.
State Rep. Dwight Kay, a Republican from Glen Carbon, said when he co-sponsored the bill establishing the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal in 2012 it called for offices in Chicago and Springfield. There is no Springfield presence.
“The intent of the legislation was to make this available not just to northern Illinois, not just to Cook County, but to (all of Illinois),” Kay said.
To be perfectly accurate, there is an office in Springfield — Room 704 of the Stratton Building. No one staffs it, and the tribunal warns taxpayers not to mail anything to that office.
Not only was the tribunal to have a Springfield office, lawmakers intended that the tribunal come to you: “Taxpayers whose residence or place of business is more than 100 miles from either the Sangamon County or Cook County Tax Tribunal office may petition the Tax Tribunal for an alternate hearing location, with a view toward securing to taxpayers a reasonable opportunity to appear before the Tax Tribunal with as little inconvenience and expense as possible,” the law states.
That would be the same tribunal that requires a $500 application fee and for you to face $15,000 in tax liability before it will consider your case.
The lack of a Springfield office was cited in a state audit that also uncovered some embarrassing financial details, including that the two tribunal judges hired for the tax expertise and their impressive resumes charged $159,000 to the wrong account. Not an audit finding, but still astounding, is that the tribunal’s expenses went from $300,000 in 2014 to $450,000 in 2015.
Jimmy John’s sandwich mogul Jimmy John Liautaud was one of the Illinois taxpayers to make use of the tribunal. He disputed $1.4 million in taxes on two corporate jets.
You’d think Chicago’s millionaires could fix their own state tax problems without the help of two state administrative judges each making $142,000 a year.
This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Taxation appeals without representation."