Figure out your taxes
The easiest way to figure your taxes is to look at your most recent notice from the county assessor's office. It lists your home's estimated market value, a smaller number called the "assessed value" and your projected taxes. If you don't have it handy, you can plug your address into the assessor's Web site and get the first two numbers. The market value is probably less than what your home would fetch on the market. The assessor's office errs on the low side.
1. Starting with your home's estimated market value, multiply that number by .16. (Residential property is assessed at 16 percent of its value in Cook County.)
2. Then multiply that number by 2.732. That's the "equalizer" adopted by the state to correct for the fact that Cook County assesses at 16 percent for residential property, a different rate than other local governments.
3. Deduct from that number any exemptions such as the homeowner's exemption of $5,000 and/or the senior exemption of $3,000.
4. Multiply that number by the tax rate paid by Chicago residents of 4.791 percent. Those will be the taxes you pay in two installments next year.
But there are a lot of exceptions. Suburban tax rates will vary school district by school district and from one municipality to the next. If legislators renew the "7 percent cap," the homeowner's exemption will rise all the way up to $20,000 for qualifying homeowners.