Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a billionaire, allegedly deliberately manipulated the property value of his Chicago mansion to get a major tax break.
In 2016, Pritzker purchased a historic Gold Coast mansion in Chicago for about $3.7 million, next to his primary home valued at over $6 million.
Reports allege that Pritzker had all 15 toilets removed from the secondary mansion, so it could be classified as “uninhabitable” right before a reassessment by the Cook County Assessor’s Office, which drastically reduced the property’s value from about $6.25 million to $1.1 million.
As a result, Pritzker saved about $330,000 in taxes
Critics say that removing the toilets was a deliberate ploy to exploit a loophole in Illinois property tax law.
By making the mansion uninhabitable, Pritzker allegedly manipulated the system to lower his tax liability, a move seen as egregious considering he has a net worth of $3.6 billion.
