Pappas and Arab Chamber help Arabs save $39,000 in property taxes

The American Arab Chamber of Commerce partnering with Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas organized a review of properties owned by Arabs and Muslims at the Islamic Community Center of Illinois this week and identified more than $39,000 in tax overpayments that can be refunded. Arab Chamber President Hassan Nijem, an “Honorary Cook County Treasurer,” said he is organizing more property tax reviews to help Arabs and Muslims recover their share of more than $79 million Pappas said has been overpaid and can be refunded

By Ray Hanania

Officials of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce partnered with Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas this week to help Arab and Muslim American save money on their property tax bills.

Pappas said Cook County property owners overpaid their taxes by more than $79 million, with more than half of the overpayments the result of taxpayers failing to claim various exemptions.

Chamber President Hassan Nijem, who is an “Honorary Cook County Treasurer” working with Pappas to help Arab American and Muslim taxpayers, organized a workshop at the Islamic Community Center of Illinois.

There, Arab and Muslim homeowners met with members of the Treasurer’s staff who helped them review their property taxes and fill out reimbursement forms to re-claim overpayments.

“I am happy to help individuals from the Arab Community to determine whether they are owed money for previous overpayments of property taxes in Cook County,” Pappas said.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and American Arab Chamber of Commerce President Hasan Nijem organized a property tax review to return more than $39,000 to members of the Islamic Community Center of Illinois. Pappas said more than $79 million is owed in overpayments to Cook County taxpayers including to Arabs and Muslims.

“About $40 million of the overpayments are the result of property owners not claiming various exemptions to which they are entitled under Illinois law. Those ‘missed’ exemptions can be applied retroactively for this year’s taxes and for the previous three years.”

Pappas said that Arab centers and mosques should gather their members together and have them copy their property tax information and through the American Arab Chamber of Commerce organize a review in which her office will visit their sites to review and complete refund forms for anyone who overpaid.

Nijem said that the lists can be presented to Pappas and her office will also review them to identify properties which overpaid by failing to claim proper deductions and ensure that the overpayments are returned to the community.

“Just this week at the Islamic Community Center of Illinois, from the members who met with the Treasurer’s staff, we were able to identify and fill out refund forms to recover more than $39,000 in money to be returned to the Arab and Muslim property owners,” Nijem said.

For more information on having your records reviewed by the Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas and her staff, contact the American Arab Chamber of Commerce by visiting their website at www.AACCUSA.org.

Or call Hassan Nijem to arrange a group review by calling 312-927-6971.

“We need to stop talking about what we need to do and we need to start doing things to help our community,” added Nijem, who this week helped force the City of Chicago and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reopen some Arab American stores that were closed for minor code violations.

Click here to read the Chicago Tribune story on the fight for Arab business rights against Chicago City Hall racism.

“We need to act more and do less talking. We need to stop telling people what we can do and just do what needs to be done.”

Nijem said more reviews are being organized to help Arab and Muslim organizations, businesses and property owners.

The Treasurer’s website is www.CookCountyTreasurer.com.

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Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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