Billionaire J.B. Pritzker has added fuel to the fire he's already feeling over the $230,000 in property tax breaks he received the past few years by lying about them, the Illinois Republican Party alleged recently.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported on the Democratic gubernatorial candidate appealing the assessments on his home and the neighboring mansion that he owns. Pritzker was able to significantly reduce his property tax bill and even garner refunds on previous years' bills. Pritzker bought the next-door mansion in 2007 and argued in a 2015 appeal of its assessment that the home was uninhabitable. The Cook County assessor agreed, granting him a big break on his 2015 taxes and $132,000 in refund checks from 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Prtizker has again appealed his 2016 tax bill, pushing for the same deductions as before, yet when questioned on a radio show, said he had only appealed his bill once.
The Illinois GOP called the remark "patently false," arguing that Pritzker has made two appeals on the uninhabitable property, an appeal on his main residence and, as recently covered by Capitol Fax, an appeal on a condo near the other two homes.
"Will J.B. Pritzker stop shortchanging Chicago schoolchildren, lying to reporters, and end his scam?" the GOP wrote in a press release.
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