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More insight into MJM’s property tax practice

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* Tony Leone, a Republican and former assistant House clerk under Speaker Michael Madigan, talked to Bernie about what happened after Gov. Jim Thompson appointed him to the state property tax appeals board…

Leone said Madigan called him to his office.

“He said, ‘Listen. I want you to recuse yourself from any complaint that … my law firm is representing,’” Leone recalled, noting that as speaker, Madigan ran House operations.

“At this point, I had no idea he was even an appeals attorney or his law firm handled appeals,” Leone said. “I walked out of the room having an awful lot of respect.”

“I think people ought to be careful about making insinuations that maybe he uses his influence on those types of appeals,” Leone added.

Leone said he wasn’t pointing the finger at anyone in particular, including the governor.

* And speaking of Madigan’s property tax work, check out Ben Joravsky’s latest in The Reader…

Rauner and his aides blasted Madigan for operating a law practice that takes advantage of the speaker’s clout with Cook County Democrats to win lower taxes for his well-to-do downtown clients. […]

But what the governor and his aides conveniently neglected to mention is that GTCR, Rauner’s old investment firm, is also one of the insiders benefiting from Madigan’s clout. That’s because GTCR is housed in a River North high-rise whose landlord hired Madigan’s law firm to handle its property tax appeal, according to the Cook County assessor’s website. […]

Finally, there’s the case of Kenneth Griffin, the wealthiest man in the state, who runs Citadel, a hedge fund.

Griffin has donated more than $5 million to Rauner’s campaign fund. Plus, he let Rauner use his private jet in the last campaign.

Griffin’s hedge fund is headquartered in the so-called Citadel building at 131 S. Dearborn. To handle its property tax appeal, the landlord of the Citadel building has hired—drum roll, please—Madigan’s law firm!

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:30 am

Comments

It’s a little tough to pick up on here, but in both cases cited are we not talking about what these company’s “land lords” did?

I’m not critical of the Speaker’s private business. I have no dog in this fight. In fact, I don’t think there should even be a fight on this. But, if you’re going to cite these guys for who their landlords hire or not, that’s more than a “little” stretch.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:36 am
The governor is careful not to insinuate. If you disagree with him, he flat-out calls you “corrupt.”

In private life, he was the purest, most ethical, public -business-trolling, incumbent politician sugar daddy, bust out bankruptcy king of all time.

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:38 am
—
But, if you’re going to cite these guys for who their landlords hire or not, that’s more than a “little” stretch.
—

It is — and I agree — but remember, Rauner is positioning himself — as has positioned himself for 1.5 years — as squeaky clean. No awareness of what “others” in his firm did, no awareness — and no blame — for any abuses or weirdness that occurred on his — Rauner’s watch.

The takeaway for me here is that Rauner is far more entrenched in the Machine (Chicago, 1%, rich white guy — whatever Machine is your combine of choice) than he’s letting on and that he may (not sure about this) realize.

In terms of the legislative side of things? No, Rauner’s not involved — yet. But in terms of the wink-wink-lets-hire-the-best, Rauner’s in there with the best of ‘em. And that best looks — and has always looked — like Madigan.

I worry that Rauner’s Bubble doesn’t allow him to appreciate the irony — which, at this point, is dripping.

Comment by Macbeth Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:42 am
Still seems like a conflict to me. How many issues in Cook county are decided by looking at the name of the law firm on the letterhead?

As we have seen in the Koschman case, no explicit order needs to be issued in order to benefit the exalted class.

Comment by plutocrat03 Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:44 am
Mr/Ms Guy
Great point but do we know either party does not have a dummy company based in Haiti trading Swaps in Paraguay with an ownership interest?

Comment by Anonin Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:45 am
“Yeah, you can say Rauner has a lotta buffers.”

Rauner is the guy with 8,000 phone numbers; people’s homes, cell phones, offices, their attorneys…

Yet Rauner will point to that same “Rolodex” and say, through his teeth…

“Yeah, I don’t know them… No, never really met him, only once, I think… A company I owned hired him, but me, I don’t know him… How did that get in there!”

The most “disconnected” connector of money and politics to deny everything you just can’t prove.

… Buffers…

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:52 am
The Speaker is not actively working as a tax attorney. His name is on the firm for a reason. It’s not a coincidence that dozens of high value building owners use his firm. You can explicitly ask for impartiality, but the numbers don’t lie.

Comment by Sandlot Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:53 am
Some background might be in order. One can not appeal one’s tax bill. But one can appeal the assessor’s value on their property. One’s property tax and one’s assessment are two different things, that come out at different times of the year. The county/township assessors office comes up with a value on each piece of property that is to reflect the property’s market value. That property value is what can be challenged at the local county’s boar of appeals, and if not satisfied with their decision - at the State property tax appeal board. That is done by comparing the house or property in question with the assessor’s value of similar houses in the area - and/or along with looking at recent sales of similar property in the area. I believe that is what Madigan’s law firm does - help people appeal the assessor’s value of their property before the county and or state appeal boards.

One’s property tax bill is a whole different item. The county clerk takes account of the total assessed value figures for the county taxing districts within the county - and then how much money each taxing body is asking for - and then comes up with rates to be applied to each person’s assessed value of their property.

In theory, if all of the taxing bodies in a county only asked for exactly as much money as they did the year before, assessments of property could be doubled, but one’s tax bill would remain the same. The rates would just be cut in half.

However, in reality, the taxing bodies much deal with inflation, employee pay raises, unfunded state mandates, and many other factors each year that require more money than the year before. So each taxing body normally asked for the maximum amount of money (highest tax rate) that they can ask for by law.

But again, Rauner’s claim that Madigan and his form profit from higher property taxes is very misleading, if not outright wrong. That is because Madigan’s firm is working with appeals of assessed value of properties - not with tax bills.

Comment by Joe M Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:55 am
===Anonin - Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:45 am:

Mr/Ms Guy
Great point but do we know either party does not have a dummy company based in Haiti trading Swaps in Paraguay with an ownership interest?===
You can go with Mr. in my case. Don’t know the answer, but maybe you could run down that lead and get back to me.

I’m only guessing here, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say both guys just pay rent in the buildings where their offices are. I have a relationship just like that (pay rent). Over a couple of decades, the landlord has changed several times. Other than the multi-year leases, we don’t chat much.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:57 am
This is why I love politics. It’s a small world. Never burn your bridges.

Comment by Emily Booth Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:58 am
Wow, another superstar attack with no legs that makes MJM look even better to those paying close attention.

Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:04 pm
So using Joravsky’s logic, since I sub-lease some tiny space in a downtown Chicago office building, and if that building uses Madigan’s firm to reduce its property tax liability, then I too somehow benefit from Madigan’s clout?

I. Don’t. Think. So.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:06 pm
I’m ashamed to say that the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board can sum up things far better than I can. At their home page of their Website:

“The Property Tax Appeal Board (PTAB) is a quasi-judicial body made up of five Members and a professional staff which serves the Board. The Board was created in 1967 to provide an unbiased forum for taxpayers and taxing bodies outside of Cook County that are dissatisfied with property assessments. In 1997, PTAB’s jurisdiction was expanded to include all Counties in Illinois. The Board will only consider appeals after decisions from County Boards of Review. The burden of proof before the Board is “the manifest weight of evidence.” The Board will only determine the correct assessment of property on appeal. The amount of the tax bill or the tax rate used in the computation is determined by local county officials and may not be appealed to the Board. Likewise, the Board has no jurisdiction to exempt property from taxation.”

So again, Rauner making it sound like Madigan and his firm help people lower their tax bill, is very misleading.

Comment by Joe M Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:11 pm
Rents in large office buildings consist of 3 components. One is the net rent, the second is the operating expenses, and the the third is real estate taxes.

Thus, the lower the assessed value the lower the real estate taxes. Therefore the tenant benefits since they pay the landlord less in the way of real estate taxes ( component 3 )

Comment by MOON Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:17 pm
- So using Joravsky’s logic -

And using your hero Bruce’s logic anyone that has friends in positions of authority that happen to make money in a field related to that authority must automatically be corrupt, right?

How’s that workers comp business going, and is the wife enjoying her paid Rauner appointment as head of the workers comp commission?

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:21 pm
=that’s more than a “little” stretch.=

It would be a stretch to say that Rauner and Griffin’s firms do not receive an economic benefit from lower tax bills where they rent.

Lower taxes=lower rent.

They benefit from the economics of these businesses.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:22 pm
“working with appeals of assessed value of properties - not with tax bills.”

Once the EAV of a property is calculated that is aggregated to the EAV of the entire taxing body. General ebbs and flows tend to be applied as a percentage to all properties. When an individual property’s assessment is lowered, the burden of the coming assessment is passed along to all the other taxpayers in the district. The redistribution is tiny when a homeowner cuts his assessment by 25K, much larger when one of the bigs cuts his assessment by 25 mil.

So when the Speaker claims to be fighting for the little guy, remember that the law firm with his name on it is shoveling more and more of the property tax burden on the little guy who can’t afford to pay for that kind of service.

Nice.

Comment by plutocrat03 Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:27 pm
@Anonymous, your reading comprehension skills are rapidly diminishing faster than your personal attacks on me and my wife.

My comment supports Madigan here. Joravsky’s logic far overreached yours, pal.

I’ll start studying that Illinois Supreme Court case on anonymous posters. May need it with the likes of you.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:29 pm
Tony’s a class act. He could have blown off Bernie’s question, but he didn’t. He demonstrated what real ethics is all about. Too bad the Governor is not a class act.

Comment by Norseman Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:31 pm
==

- Sandlot - Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:53 am:

The Speaker is not actively working as a tax attorney. His name is on the firm for a reason. It’s not a coincidence that dozens of high value building owners use his firm. You can explicitly ask for impartiality, but the numbers don’t lie.==

You assume the only reason they go to the firm is Madigan. The second named partner is a one of the best lawyers in the country.

Comment by wowsers Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:42 pm
- I’ll start studying that Illinois Supreme Court case on anonymous posters. -

Take it up with Bruce, he’s the one leveling accusations. I’m just wondering how you feel about them.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:42 pm
Watching the Hawks rally and it pains me
To see The Gov on stage (again) in a hawks sweater with a big C on it. If he was a real Captain he would be in Springfield working for what he was elected to do and that being a Governor.

Comment by A on looker Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:46 pm
My guess is that the lease for the buildings were triple net, meaning that the lessee and not the landlord was directly responsible for the property tax bill for their space.

Comment by tominchicago Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:49 pm
Take deep breaths, A on looker….it’s just a rally.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:49 pm
I’m waiting for that tribune headline”Rauner benefited from madigans law firm”

Comment by foster brooks Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:51 pm
“I’m only guessing here, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say both guys just pay rent in the buildings where their offices are”

One could speculate that Kenneth Griffin, who runs Citadel, a hedge fund headquartered in the Citadel building might have a relationship with the landlord.

Comment by Bigtwich Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:57 pm
==remember that the law firm with his name on it is shoveling more and more of the property tax burden on the little guy who can’t afford to pay for that kind of service.==

If it is an individual who wants to challenge the assessment on their house, that person does not need a big law firm. They just need to go to the counter assessors office and get 1) a list of all recent home sales in the county 2) a list of what the houses up and down their street have been assessed at. They can do that themselves. Madigans firm isn’t doing anyting that the average small guy can do with the assessment on their house. Or there are also non-law firms that can do that legwork for them rather reasonably.

When I was an assessor, letters and phone calls from big law firms from downtown Chicago did not influence me. Once I showed them how I came up with the assessment of the property in question - and how I assessed similar property in the neighborhood, they were satisfied and didn’t even pursue an appeal to the County board. And having sat in on a number of County appeals board meetings, I would venture to say that the individual, small guy, putting together his own appeal, would often get the board’s decision in their favor more than someone with a large law firm doing their appeal, especially if the large law firm hadn’t done its homework very well in gathering sales and assessments of other similar property in the area. Granted, it wasn’t Cook County, but often times the big law firm was overkill, and did not impress the County appeals board.

Comment by Joe M Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:58 pm
So Madigan’s firm stopped practicing before Joe Barrios’ office? Must have missed that.

Comment by lake county democrat Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:58 pm
One could also find out first.

Comment by A guy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 12:59 pm
Can we accurately state that Rauner is just as much a part of the special interests and the political class that he vilifies as any other state politician?

And if this answer is yes or even a qualified yes, can a man of Rauner’s wealth and background ever have a chance of presenting the face of real reform in Illinois state government?

Comment by vole Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:00 pm
Where is Stuart Levine when we need him?

Comment by northshore cynic Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:00 pm
PLUTO

Are you suggesting that the larger commercial properties should supplement the homeowners to a greater degree and pay even more taxes ?

You need to understand that the large commercial properties already have assessed values 2.5 times greater than the residence in Cook County.

When is enough enough ?

Comment by MOON Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:01 pm
1. Rauner says Madigan benefits financially from the speakership.

2. Rauner and his friends, or their landlords, hired Madigan because Madigan uses that clout.

3. How does #2 disprove or mitigate #1?

Joravsky and Miller are just proving Rauner’s case.

Comment by gopower Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:01 pm
==My guess is that the lease for the buildings were triple net, meaning that the lessee and not the landlord was directly responsible for the property tax bill for their space.==

Maybe, but not necessarily. However, in downtown office buildings with multiple tenants, appeal rights are typically reserved to the building owner.

To the post. Has any politician who makes this claim ever actually FOIA’d the speaker’s appeal files? I have seen a few of his appeals before, and all of them typically come with an appraisal and a well-reasoned brief.

Comment by Dean Keaton Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:02 pm
Personalities and politics aside - it is very bad for us when we have a governor publically claiming that the Speaker of the House is corrupt. It is a bad thing to do.

We cannot accept an individual holding either office making these types of public statements. When we have divided government, it doesn’t mean that the government should be dysfunctional - it means that we expect the two parties to run government jointly. We elected a team government.

When this governor was elected, he was getting a legislature that was dominated by the other political party. Consequently, he needed to recognize that he needed to form a team. As the leader of the state, the executive of the state - it is his responsibility to create that team.

Rauner has failed to recognize the responsibilities he has as a governor. He has shown himself to think like an OWNER, not as a governor. Consequently, he has not formed the bipartisan team Illinois needs.

Worse, the Governor publically accuses the man with whom he is to form that bipartisan team, with crimes. That is just flat-out, bad government for all.

Politics stinks, but it has a purpose. When it doesn’t serve its purpose, then all we got is its stink. Right now, that is all we got with this governor.

Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:04 pm
Well stated Vanilla Man.

Comment by illlinifan Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:09 pm
Sandlot is right. Why doesn’t Madigan take his name off the law firm? People should talk to their competitors about how this tax assessment reduction business is sought and kept. The stories would curl your toes! Alderman Burke also practices in this field.

Comment by Formerpol Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:09 pm
GoPower - the problem with your argument, and with Rauner’s politics overall, is that he sees himself as a victim of Madigan’s power, rather than a beneficiary.

In Rauner’s mind, Madigan only serves the Unions, but in reality, he has been in power so long because he effectively represents the interests of the wealthy and powerful.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:23 pm
I know several folks who have worked at the Board of Review which handles the vast majority of property value appeals. Many more than PTAB and most of them by lawyers.
We’ve talked over drinks about lawyer name influence on decisions and the only thing they say a lawyer’s name affects is their expectation of the quality of work they will see in the file.

Another thing about PTAB is that if the requested reduction is over a certain amount the taxing bodies that would be affected are notified and allowed to participate in the hearings. Or at least they used to be, not sure if they’ve changed that rule lately

Comment by Anonish Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:25 pm
How many years has Rauner and his pals done business with these “insiders” for financial gain? Doesn’t Rauner’ pal Griffin have weekly meetings with Rahm? Didn’t Rauner swap political dollars to Democrats for pension business to GTCR? huhuhuh?

Comment by All the answers Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:26 pm
The Speaker would be one of the last politicians I’d suspect of being corrupt and most anyone that’s worked around the House knows that to be true.

Comment by Mouthy Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:33 pm
MOON you forgot several critical components in your rent calculation and that is the length of the lease and the space the firm is taking up in the building. Both firms are large enough to drive a good deal and lock in a rate if they chose to.

There is still zero proof in the article that either firm got a rent break in any way attributable to the work of Madigan & Getzendanner.

Comment by Rod Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:52 pm
“If it is an individual who wants to challenge the assessment”

It is a complex, arcane process which many people find too intimidating to go through. I my experience the appeals boards are biased against the property owner in favor of the assessor because they know the assessor and don’t know the property owner. You may be diligent and straightforward, but I can tell you from personal experience that some people on the appeals board are not. I know two counties. Clout lives in both.

Comment by plutocrat03 Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 1:58 pm
What Brucie is doing is an extension of his right-wing, big business Union bashing–its companion is lawyer bashing. There are no facts to support his corruption charges against Madigan or Cullerton…but Brucie’s a business guy, ergo, all lawyers are corrupt and Madigan and Cullerton are lawyers…Bingo, Chamber of Commerce logic demands that they be corrupt.

Comment by D.P.Gumby Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:00 pm
=Why doesn’t Madigan take his name off the law firm?=

Why is there still an “R” in GTCR?

That question is just as relevant or irrelevant as yours.

Both men have the right to leave their names on the shingle, the name isn’t the issue. Actions are the issue.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:01 pm
From the Governor’s next rose-garden news event: “My BFF Griffin is using Madigan’s firm, so you KNOW the Speaker’s shady!”

On second thought, the Governor’s team might want to wordsmith that suggested quote a bit —

Comment by Linus Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:04 pm
“One could also find out first.”

My bad. I thought guessing was in vogue.

Comment by Bigtwich Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:12 pm
@JSMILL

“Lower taxes=lower rent.”

JS, you may know how school bureaucracies work, but you don’t know Jack about real estate investment. I’ve been buying, renting and selling investment properties since I was 23, and the first thing you learn is that rents are determined by the local market, not your expenses.

In that way, it’s very different than public education. You charge fees and additional tax levies according to PTELL based upon what you want to spend, not the MARKET VALUE of the quality of education you provide.

Cases in point, Thornton High school district 205 and Lincoln Way District 210. Thornton spends about $19K per student while Lincoln Way spends about $12K. Class sizes are pretty close to the same. It would be tough to argue that Thornton provides better value than Lincoln Way while spending 58% more per student. If schools were subject to the same market forces as rents, Thornton would be empty and couldn’t spend half what they charge the taxpayers for the services they perform and the facilities they provide.

Outside of government (including public education)you can charge based on value, not how much you misspend operating an organization.

I don’t know of any landlord who drops rent because their expenses went down. Only vacancies can make that happen.

Reducing taxes for your landlord won’t save a tenant a nickel.

Comment by Arizona Bob Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:50 pm
Did Madigan have a lot of clout with Houlihan all those years? I don’t think so.

St. Patrick of Fitzgerald had the muscle of the entire federal government to investigate anything he wanted for 11 years. You think he might have eyeballed Madigan?

Comment by Wordslinger Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 2:58 pm
As Moon said, most commercial leases, tenant pays a proportionate share of the taxes.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:06 pm
=== Can we accurately state that Rauner is just as much a part of the special interests and the political class that he vilifies as any other state politician? ===

Indubitably!

Comment by nona Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:12 pm
I just want to see the Speaker’s tax returns. Good for the goose…

Comment by Allen Skillicorn Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:35 pm
Were I looking for a law firm to appeal my property tax assessment in heavily Democratic Cook County, would I approach a suburban firm from DuPage County, or would I seek assistance from the firm of the head of the Illinois Democratic Party? Duh. Some clout goes unspoken, it simply radiates.

Comment by Keyser Soze Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:46 pm
Rauner is fond of using the word baloney. Rauner was full of baloney when he made his statement about Madigan’s law firm. Tony Leone is a Republican but also a man of integrity. I’m glad he called out the Governor on this. It we had more folks in the legislature in both political parties and a Governor that had that kind of integrity, we might be able to reach consensus on a budget and move this state forward. Unfortunately we don’t.

Comment by The Dude Abides Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:56 pm
- I’ve been buying, renting and selling investment properties since I was 23 -

My goodness, a real estate engineer, is there anything Bob doesn’t know?

Also, I’m sure you can show us how Thornton is misspending, right? I mean, I must have taken the same “High School Engineering” class as you in which the only variables involved in calculating school operating costs are number of students, and misspending. What a great class.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:57 pm
=I just want to see the Speaker’s tax returns. Good for the goose…=

How about yours? I believe you are an elected official.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 3:59 pm
= not how much you misspend operating an organization.=

Really? Maybe you have never heard of Ameren, Com Ed, or Excelon.

Corporate economic misadventures have cost the public plenty.

I know a few crappy engineers that cost schools a ton too. I wonder if any live in Arizona.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 4:02 pm
Does everyone forget that at one time Rauner had Tony Rezko on his payroll? Guessing that wasn’t for his cheese tasting skills.

How did Rauner’s company get all of that pension investment business? Was all of that won on merit alone? C’mon.

Stones. Glass houses. Blah blah blah. This is lousy politics and government.

Comment by Left Leaner Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 4:09 pm
- Sandlot - Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 11:53 am:

The Speaker is not actively working as a tax attorney. His name is on the firm for a reason. It’s not a coincidence that dozens of high value building owners use his firm. You can explicitly ask for impartiality, but the numbers don’t lie.==

Go back to the sandlot where you belong. The reality is that Madigan’s firm simply has some of the best legal staff in that specialty. Period. If you were at all serious you would look at the details of their track record. What is not generally recognized is not only how good they are but how selective they are in the cases they take on. They don’t take on weak appeals. They don’t have to.

After all of these years I’m sure many prosecutors have looked into Madigan’s firm and the allegations. If there was ANY validity to the allegations I’m sure they would have been exposed a long time ago. The politics of prosecution is well know in Illinois from the days of Kerner and Thompson to Blagovic and Murphy. Get a clue.

Comment by Old and In The Way Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 4:37 pm
So to be clear: One of the most powerful officials in the state has a side business where you can pay him to petition the government to reduce your taxes.

We are all cool with that… /snark/

Comment by Any Mouse Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 6:43 pm
- So to be clear: One of the most powerful officials in the state made his fortune and still has investments in companies that invest state pension funds and seek contracts with state government, and we’re all cool with that? -

Fixed that for you.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 7:38 pm
When is enough enough ?

Depends on whether the assessments are a fair representation of market value. If the commercial assessment is below the market valuation then it is not enough.

Comment by Plutocrat03 Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 8:21 pm
==Depends on whether the assessments are a fair representation of market value==

There are some checks and balances. The Illinois Department of Revenue looks at all real estate sales within a county compares the sale prices with the values the assessor had on the property. That is usually then broken down by township. If the assessor’s values are too low on the properties that sold, then the assumption is that that particular assessor’s values are too low on all of the properties in his/her township. Then multipliers are applied to everyone’s assessment in that township. For example, if the assessor’s values were 5% below the actual value of properties that sold, then a 1.05 multiplier can be applied to all the properties in that township. Not sure how that works in the city of Chicago though. But it is done throughout the state in most counties/townships.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 8:46 pm
With a slight of hand, and little help from Google, I looked up this “shady” tax firm.

Madigan’s tax firm deals with multiple corporations, many that own multiple buildings in the city, suburbs, county, state.

When it comes to property taxes, yes a single homeowner can easily file an appeal to get their appraisal lowered. However huge corporations do not necessarily keep tax attorney’s on their payroll, so they hire a tax attorney firm and pay them a retainer to handle their tax issues. This is what Madigan’s firm does.

Unlike a single homeowner, who compares his assessment to his next door neighbor, it isn’t that easy to do in locations like the loop, so you need someone to take the time to research other properties, like yours, and see what their assessments are. That takes time and resources because everything isn’t always assessed based on square footage.

Comment by Kelly Speaks Thursday, Jun 18, 15 @ 9:12 pm
So, because the landlords of the building where a Rauner business was located used the Madigan firm for their property tax appeals, Rauner is somehow hypocritical in his criticism? This doesn’t make any sense to me.

Comment by econ prof Friday, Jun 19, 15 @ 8:47 am
Nobody mentioned how property assessment attorneys are paid. Most often it is a percentage of the tax dollars saved. The bigger the reduction, the bigger the payday. No conflict there, right?

Comment by NiteMayor Friday, Jun 19, 15 @ 8:48 am