February 26, 2009
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RAHM EMANUEL DOESN’T PAY PROPERTY TAX!
Why doesn’t Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel pay property taxes in Chicago?
According to the Cook County Assessor’s website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn’t exist. While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel’s residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections‘ website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home.
The Cook County Assessor’s and Cook County Treasurer’s online records indicate Emanuel’s Chicago neighbors pay between $3,500 and $7,000 annually. However, Illinois Review has been unable to locate any evidence that the former Clinton advisor and investment banker is paying his fair share of Cook County‘s notoriously high tax burden.
Property Index Number Address Unit Class Code Neigh
borhoodAssessed Value City Assessor Certified View Image 14-18-408-027-0000 4220 N Hermitage Ave 2-06 32 41,369 Chicago (2008) 
14-18-408-026-0000 4222 N Hermitage Ave 2-05 32 54,310 Chicago (2008) 14-18-409-006-0000 4223 N Hermitage Ave 2-06 32 86,876 Chicago (2008) 14-18-408-025-0000 4224 N Hermitage Ave 2-05 32 47,408 Chicago (2008) 14-18-409-021-0000 4225 N Hermitage Ave 2-78 32 82,482 Chicago (2008) 14-18-409-020-0000 4227 N Hermitage Ave 2-78 32 82,481 Chicago (2008) 14-18-408-035-0000 4232 N Hermitage Ave 2-06 32 100,835 Chicago (2008) 14-18-408-034-0000 4236 N Hermitage Ave 2-06 32 89,819 Chicago (2008) 14-18-408-037-0000 4240 N Hermitage Ave 2-78 32 98,135 Chicago (2008)
Why wouldn’t 4228 North Hermitage property owners Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule pay property taxes?
One reason may be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their personal non-profit foundation called the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation“. As the non-profit’s headquarters, their home could be exempt from paying property taxes.
In January 2007, USA Today reported on Emanuel’s foundation:
The Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust was formed in 2002, when the Chicago lawmaker was first elected. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, are its only donors. Emanuel was an investment banker after serving in the White House.
The trust reported having $2,900 on hand at the end of 2005 after receiving $34,000 from Emanuel and donating more than $31,000
During the past three years, Emanuel’s charity gave nearly $25,000 to the Anshe Emet synagogue and school [a private school that the Rahm/Rule children attend]…, and $15,000 to the foundation run by former president Bill Clinton. It also gave $14,000 to Marwen, a Chicago charity that provides art classes and other educational help to low-income children. Rule is on Marwen’s board.
(He doesn’t pay any property taxes and he gets income tax write-offs by donating $25000 to the Synagogue and other amounts of money to his Foundation. This allows his kids to attend school tuition-free and allows him to expense a lot of personal expenses. What a racket!
Take all your income and donate it back to yourself via tax exempt orgs where you can spend it on as expenses to operate your car, pay the electric and water bills, etc. I guess if you are a hypocritical “liberal” democrat who advocates raising taxes on everyone else, this is all permissible.)
Emanuel’s 4228 North Hermitage home is one of the largest in the neighborhood, with a side yard that appears to be a vacant lot, making the Emanuels’ property the largest portion on the block.
Other North Hermitage homes on Emanuel’s block are valued in the $500,000 plus range. According to Cook County Treasurer’s website, the Chicago owners of nearby 118 year old 4222 North Hermitage pay almost $6800 annually. The family at 4224 North Heritage pays $6000 each year in property taxes.
President Obama – himself a connected, Chicago insider who has benefited from questionable land deals – may find it difficult to explain why his very own Chicago-based chief of staff doesn’t pay property taxes like the “little guy” he claims to represent.
Or perhaps allowing his wealthy friends to avoid taxes is part of Obama’s trickle down redistribution economics. It’s certainly the kind of “change” we Illinoisans can believe in…since we’re quite familiar with it here in the federal indictment land of Daley, Blagojevich, Madigan, Jones, Cellini, Rezko, etc.
Comments (5)
maybe some sort of seperation of church and state thingie,,,,, do any iranians pay any us taxes??? iranians of course being my racial slur for any muslim,,,,
he could be egyptian,,, ive never bothered to look it up,,,, iranian,,,, same thing,,,,, he does look kind of egyptian,,, ive never to my knowledge ever personally known anyone from iran,,,,
ok,, hahahaha,,, i didnt read it all,,, just saw his name and that was enough to set me off,,, charity,,,
i have mine picked out,,, its not me,,, i cant afford a charity,,, but i know one,,, if i ever hit it big,,,, you can bet my favorite charity will get it all,,,
ill stop with that,,,,, this could be placed as evidence at a later time,,,,, right,,,,
dang him
Interesting.
All I gotta say is… politician. Kinda like pirate, only different.