Donald Trump doesn’t hold back when bragging about his successes, except, of course, at tax time. From his golf clubs to his hotels to a yacht he lost to a Saudi Prince once it was re-posessed by creditors, Trump consistently understates his wealth to governments looking to levy his “fair share” of the tax burden.
Trump’s approach to Chicago property taxes—on his Trump Tower hotel and condominium building in the middle of Chicago’s downtown—is no different.
Thanks to Trump’s coziness with Chicago Dems, and specifically the powerful Alderman Ed Burke, he managed to get his Trump Tower’s property tax assessment lowered by around 40% since 2006, (occasionally by calling Trump’s Chicago venture a “failed business model” and designating the commercial space in the Tower “un-leasable”). Burke, Trump’s lawyer in his assessment challenges, was one of the aldermen who voted to approve Trump’s 92-story residential and commercial skyscraper in 2002 (the dual activity, shockingly, is not a conflict of interest in Illinois).
Trump likely used Burke’s law firm for its political connections, and as a result he saw multi-million dollar savings yearly, even as Chicago residents are staring at a nearly $750 million tax hike to save the cash-strapped city from bankruptcy. Perhaps not-so-shockingly, Trump’s aldermanic buddy voted to approve Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tax hike.
Burke’s firm not only challenged what Trump owed, it also regularly asked for refunds from Chicago government entities—including the nearly bankrupt Chicago Public Schools—to repay Trump, a Democratic donor and potentially powerful ally, for his trouble. Calling the property tax assessments “erroneous, excessive, illegal and void,” Burke’s law firm put in for refund requests, from CPS and others, in 2009 (Trump saved $1.1 million), 2012 (Trump saved $1.7 million), 2013 (Trump saved $3.5 million), and 2014 (Trump saved only $250,000).
Chicago’s public schools have $6.3 billion in debt. Because of a contrived relationship between the debt repayment schedule and Chicago taxpayers, if the school system misses even one debt payment, Chicago property taxes will increase incrementally to cover the payment. So not only is Trump getting tax breaks while Chicago property owners suffer, his plan to lower his own tax burden may ultimately raise that of other Chicago taxpayers.
Not to mention, Trump’s “refund” would place an even larger burden on Chicago Public Schools, which already struggles to graduate around 70% of its students. And this is all largely thanks to Donald Trump’s snuggling with Chicago Democrats.
