We are Judged by the Company we Keep UPDATED
Some ink has been spilled and many electrons have been annoyed on the subject of Obama's associates over the last two years. They include Tony Rezko, Jeremia Wright, Bill Ayers and his wife, Rashid Khalidi, and so many others. We can add one more: Rahm Emanuel, tax cheat. It would seem that Rahm formed a 501c3 non-profit to launder his charitable donations through. He has declared his $500,000+ house as the offices of the NPO in order to avoid property taxes (which would run around $6000 per year.) . One of the recipients of the NPO's largesse is his kid's private school. Now, Are these actually charitable donations? or are they tuition? Has Rahm Emanuel figured out how to not only duck property taxes but income tax on his kid's private school tuition? The way this might work is that he donates the amount of the tuition to the school from the NPO as a scholarship endowment with a requirement that it go to pay for the tuition of children of jewish heritage who live in the 4200 block of North Hermitage (or some equally narrow description that leaves only his two kids as possible recipients.). In that way, his kids go to school tax free. I don't KNOW if this is the case HERE, but it is not at all uncommon for this sort of thing to occur.
UPDATE:
It would appear that a payment was made, on the vacant lot next door. But there would still appear to be questions about this. Why the vacant lot? they don't get mail there and it is the address that gets mail that is usually on the tax rolls. Is the donation to his kid's school truly a donation or is it tuition? and the $13,022.60 seems kinda low.
H/T Illinois Review
UPDATE:
It would appear that a payment was made, on the vacant lot next door. But there would still appear to be questions about this. Why the vacant lot? they don't get mail there and it is the address that gets mail that is usually on the tax rolls. Is the donation to his kid's school truly a donation or is it tuition? and the $13,022.60 seems kinda low.
H/T Illinois Review
posted by Rorschach at
11/06/2008 01:01:00 PM
6 Comments:
well, not surpising he would fill positions with like-minded peeps. I thought I had read Emanuel was a blue dog demo, but guess not.
The trouble with this story is that the Illinois Review apparently never bothered to check with the tax assessor, and it looks like they have egg all over their faces. D'oh.
See http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/assessors-response-to-illinois-review/
Hey Rorshach,
You've been had my friend.
This tax story turns out to be completely false.
The Illinois Review editor is just confused because Emanuel has what's called a double-lot -- he own two regular city lots right next to each other, one with his house on it and the other an empty space for his yard.
The taxes technically go to the street address of the empty lot, but they cover both lots together.
In fact, his taxes are more than twice what the other homeowners in his neighborhood are paying (because of the double-lot).
You might want to ask yourself why the Illinois Review editor deleted all the comments to all three of her Rahm Emanuel stories, and isn't allowing any new comments at all. (Even though every other story at that blog allows comments.)
Ya been played for a fool by an Illinois charletan my Texas friend.
Here's what the tax collector had to say about the Illinois Review fallacies:
Assessor’s response to Illinois Review
Thursday, Nov 6, 2008
1) The tax bill IS listed where the Emanuel home is located. They are on two lots.
2) By “for tax purposes,” I mean that this is the location associated with the PIN. But it’s the same property.
3) Yes, it was inaccurate to say that. Because it is the same house. It was listed in our records — and the Treasurer’s records — under a different address. Had you contacted either office to check this out, we could have told you that.
4) It would be highly misleading and irresponsible for you to say that, because we don’t assess property by address – we do it by PIN. And we do it because addresses change and get combined all the time, when owners divide and combine lots. Apparently, with this property, a previous owner had taken three lots and turned them into two.
Let me make one further point: Before posting this “story,” neither you nor anybody from the Illinois Review made an effort to contact the Assessor’s office to verify it. As a former newspaper reporter, I find this shocking.
Even after learning, when I emailed you at 10:46 this morning, that there were factual problems with the story, you kept it on your web site. Moreover, you deleted my effort to correct the story from the “comments” section. I’d be keenly interested in hearing your justification for this conduct.
Anon, no attempt at suppressing the truth took place, I was merely too busy to get back to this or to moderate comments. We Republicans generally have jobs you know... In fact Illinois review posted an update later that day which I am about to do now.
Rorschach,
I think your response "no attempt at suppressing the truth took place" was actually responding to the quoted comment first sent to Illinois Review, not you.
The Cook County tax assessor tried to let the Illinois Review author know her story was totally inaccurate (based on the fact she misunderstood the way the taxes are billed).
Rahm Emanuel paid more than $13,000 in taxes for 2007 (as you've noted in your update).
But rather than "seeming low" as you write, it's actually about double what his neighbors pay. Again, he has a double-lot. The two lots are right next to each other. His house is on one lot and his yard is on the other. And the taxes, even though they get mailed to just one address, actually cover the two lots together (which is why his taxes are about double that of his neighbors).
The Illinois Review author has since deleted her posts, bizarrely claiming she was being "intimidated" just because people were pointing out to her that she was peddling a false story and deleting comments trying to correct the story. (If she'd left the articles online, it's about as clear a case of defamation as I've seen. It doesn't matter what party you belong to, a lie is a lie.)
He's still claiming his kid's school tuition as a donation. He may not be as big a tax cheat as we thought, but he's still a tax cheat.
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