Kendall County Times

Federal prosecutors have requested 5 months' worth of files from the Cook County assessor’s office involving a 330,000 property tax break for two N. Astor Street mansions owned by that Gov. J.B. Pritzker, according to a July 17 Chicago Sun-Times story.

As widely reported, the tax break was provided to Gov. Pritzker under former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios due partly to disconnected commodes that stunted a remodeling job. 

The U.S. Attorney’s office has since asked the current assessor, Fritz Kaegi, to release all forms of communication between Pritzker and Berrios’ staff dating back to 2012.

James Marter, chairman of the Kendall County Republican Party, issued the following statement in response:

"The whole thing with the corruption in the state is we've got the government spending our money like it's going out of style. They want to raise our taxes and call something a fair tax, which is a regressive tax that's going to drive more people and business out of state, and the guy who's doing this is the guy who removed toilets from his house to get a tax break on one of his many mansions. The fact that it takes us this long to even get an investigation, much less an indictment and conviction, is something that shows there's no justice here in Illinois."

Although Pritzker reportedly reimbursed Cook County the $330,000 tax break two years ago, Marter told the Kendall County Times that it may take a long time for him to be held further accountable if the federal inquiry eventually becomes a court case.

"Everything that becomes a court case takes months, if not years and years," said Marter, who studied economics at Purdue and works as a software consultant. "I almost imagine we're going to have to hold him accountable at the ballot box in 2022, which will probably happen sooner than anything happens with these cases. These things just don't seem to move with any sort of justice for the people who are actually impacted by it."

With the inquiry into Gov. Pritzker’s properties being part of a larger investigation that includes Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) and House Speaker Michael Madigan, Marter foresees an exodus from the state by residents.

"People are leaving Illinois in droves. I have many friends who just literally aren't living here anymore. They picked up, they sold, they got out and they're out of here," he said in an interview. "Businesses are not coming to Illinois. Look at Chicago. They can't even keep control of, what I call terrorists, who are literally out there trying to terrorize people, destroy and steal things and nobody is going to bring their headquarters, company or their business to Chicago when you can't even keep control over that and, at the same time, they're not going to want to come when they know that government is going to tax the heck out of them when they arrive. People are leaving. They are not coming here. They are going to other states."

The long term impact of such an exodus will be a decline in tax revenues, which Marter says will create a deficit.

"This will continue to get worse to the point where the state will not be able to pay their obligations," he said. "We aren't even doing it now. Wait until they stop paying on the pensions and the things they've been promising the people that keep voting for them to keep them in office, but sooner or later, the laws of economics don't bend for anyone and they certainly won’t bend for the state of Illinois."