A case scheduled to go before the Illinois Supreme Court this week is challenging the law that allows the state's not-for-profit hospitals to skip paying property taxes. Applications for hospital property tax exemptions have been in limbo for about a year while the courts consider the issue. The Supreme Court will hear the case Thursday.
Those challenging the law say many not-for-profit hospitals enjoy hefty profits and should have to contribute to their communities like other businesses. But hospitals say they provide valuable charitable care and use the exemptions to fulfill their communities' health care needs.
Nearly 160 of Illinois' over 200 hospitals are not-for-profit, including many of the most well-known health care facilities in the Chicago area.
