Grumpa Joe's Place

According to the Cook County Assessor’s website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, DOESN’T EXIST.  While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel’s residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections’ website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home.

The Cook County Assessor’s and Cook County Treasurer’s online records indicate that Emanuel’s Chicago neighbors pay between $3,500 and $7,000 annually. However,  Illinois Review has been unable to locate any evidence that the former Clinton advisor and investment banker is paying his fair share of Cook County’s notoriously high tax burden.

Why wouldn’t 4228 North Hermitage property owners  Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule pay property taxes?  One reason may be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their personal non-profit foundation called the “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation“.  As the “non-profit foundation’s” headquarters, their home could be exempt from paying property taxes!  Get a load of this . . .

In January 2007, “USA Today” reported on Emanuel’s foundation:
The “Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust” was formed in 2002, when the Chicago lawmaker was first elected. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, ARE ITS ONLY DONORS!  Emanuel was an investment banker after serving in the White House.  The trust reported having $2,900 on hand at the end of 2005, after receiving $34,000 from Emanuel and donating more than $31,000.
During the past three years, Emanuel’s “charity” gave nearly $25,000 to the Anshe Emet Synagogue (a private school that the Rahm/Rule children attend), and $15,000 to the foundation run by former president Bill Clinton. It also gave $14,000 to Marwen, a Chicago charity that provides art classes and other educational help to low-income children.  AMY RULE IS ON MARWEN’S BOARD.
So what does this mean?  It means he doesn’t pay any property taxes and he gets income tax write-offs by donating $25,000 to the synagogue and other amounts of money to his “Foundation”.  This allows HIS KIDS TO ATTEND SCHOOL TUITION-FREE and allows him to write off a lot of person expenses.  What a racket!  Take all your income and donate it back to yourself via tax exempt organizations where you can spend it as expenses to operate your car, pay the electric and water bills, etc.  I guess if you are a hypocritical liberal Democrat who advocates raising taxes on everyone else, this is all permissible. 
Emanuel’s home at 4228 is one of the largest in the neighborhood, with a side yard that appears to be a vacant lot, making the Emanuels’ property the largest portion on the block.  Other North Hermitage Avenue homes on Emanuel’s block are valued in the $500,000+ range . . . his home is valued at OVER A MILLION TAX-FREE DOLLARS (see it here at Zillow:  Zillow Real Estate Search Results: 4228 North Hermitage.