The Illinois GOP is asking Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker to answer four questions about the property tax breaks he received recently.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Pritzker received $230,000 in property tax relief following appeals of valuation assessments on two of his properties. Most of the money came from the reduced valuation of the mansion next to his residence, which was lowered after the mansion was deemed uninhabitable and vacant.
GOP spokesperson Steven Yaffe is asking why Pritzker was ordered to pay $1 million in a breach of contract suit with a contractor hired to work on his main residence, which had its valuation reduced upon appeal.
Yaffe also wants to know why the billionaire purchased the neighboring mansion only to make it uninhabitable.
The third question Yaffe has is whether Pritzker influenced Rep. Rob Martwick's (D-Jefferson Park) seemingly sudden decision to kill his own bill that aimed to combat vacancy property tax fraud. Martwick quashed the measure after it gained bipartisan support in the wake of the Pritzker scandal, calling the sudden Republican interest political gamesmanship.
Finally, the GOP wants to know how $100,000 in donations linked to Pritzker affected Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios' decisions on Pritzker tax appeals.
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