How are wind turbines taxed in Illinois?
Prior to 2007, each county in Illinois decided for itself how to assess the value of a wind turbine for property tax purposes. This led to widely varying levels of property taxes paid for identical wind turbines in different counties. In 2007, the Illinois legislature passed Public Act 095-0644, which standardized the way wind turbines are assessed for property taxes throughout the state of Illinois. Beginning in 2007, the fair cash value for a utility-scale wind turbine in Illinois is $360,000 per MW and is annually adjusted for inflation and depreciation. The law was set to expire at the end of 2011. In April 2010, the Illinois legislature passed HB 4797, which extended this method of assessing property taxes on wind turbines through 2016. If at some point the law was allowed to expire, the valuation decision would revert to the individual counties, who would once again assess the value of the wind turbines at whatever value they deemed appropriate.
