Tax Lawyers in Cook County

The government of Cook County, Illinois collects taxes from its residents in order to pay for general public services, like police and fire departments, libraries, hospitals, and public transit.

In Cook County, Illinois, taxes are derived from numerous sources. Regardless of where a specific tax comes from, it is always collected in an amount dictated by law. Most often, taxes are calculated as a percentage of income, sales, or property value. Sometimes, typically in the context of licensing fees or car registration fees, taxes are set at a flat rate.

You are legally-obligated to pay your taxes in Cook County. If you fail to pay your taxes, without a compelling reason, you are committing a crime, and may end up going to jail as a result.

Sources of Tax Dollars in Cook County, Illinois

There are a large number of different sources of tax revenue in Cook County, Illinois. They contain, among many others, sales tax, licensing fees, and road tolls.

Sales Tax: In Cook County, there may be a sales tax on top of the sales tax imposed by the government of . City sales taxes are usually pretty small, usually in the range of one percent or less, as opposed to the 5-7% sales taxes imposed by most states.

Licensing Fees: In Cook County, licenses are required to engage in many different activities, or at least to do so legally. The most common of these are business licenses. While some professions require licenses because the state has an interest in ensuring competence in them (in law and medicine, for instance), many business licenses exist for the primary purpose of collecting revenue, and therefore serve the same purpose as taxes.

Bridge/Road Tolls: Many larger cities in the U.S. charge tolls to enter the city via main highways or bridges. This amounts to a tax paid for the privilege of entering Cook County if it has such toll roads. Besides being a basic source of revenue, these tolls require visitors to the city, who will have many city services available to them while they visit, to pay at least some contribution to these services.

How Can a Cook County, Illinois Tax Attorney Help?

Tax Law in Cook County, Illinois is not simple. Taxes are imposed on a wide range of activities, and the manner in which they're calculated can be very perplexing. Furthermore, there are usually special tax breaks or exemptions that may or may not apply to you.

Thus, it's extremely important that you obtain the advice of a qualified Cook County, Illinois tax attorney if you have any tax law questions.