A government of Illinois candidate has removed the mansion's restrooms to avoid taxes, according to a report: NPR

The Illinois governor candidate, JB Pritzker, said he would reimburse $ 330,000 in Cook County taxes that he had avoided after removing the toilets from a building. property, so that it is considered uninhabitable. Pritzker is seen Monday in Chicago.

Joshua Lott / Getty Images

hide the legend

activate the legend

Joshua Lott / Getty Images

The Illinois governor candidate, JB Pritzker, said he would reimburse $ 330,000 in Cook County taxes that he had avoided after removing the toilets from a building. property, so that it is considered uninhabitable. Pritzker is seen Monday in Chicago.

Joshua Lott / Getty Images

In the final weeks of the Illinois governor's race, an unusual topic made the headlines: J. B. Pritzker's restroom.

Pritzker is the Democratic nominee, a venture capitalist and a very wealthy man – heir to the fortune of Hyatt hotels – it's worth $ 3.2 billion.

In 2007, Pritzker and his wife bought a second mansion, next to the one they live in, located on Astor Street in Chicago for $ 3.7 million. As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, this mansion remained vacant and was allowed to fall into poor condition.

Then, in October 2015, according to a report by Patrick Blanchard, Inspector General of Cook County, the Pritzkers would have had five toilets removed from the second house, so that it would be classified as "uninhabitable" in a call concerning property taxes. Cook County assesses vacant properties at 10% of their market value.

The restrooms were removed shortly before the affidavit was filed in the property tax appeal. The county appraiser's office "lowered the estimated value of the 6,378-square-foot mansion from $ 6.3 million to about $ 1.1 million." The Chicago Tribune reports.

As a result, the Inspector General writes: "The county was finally victim of a scheme to defraud … which resulted in the landlord ultimately receiving refunds of money. property tax totaling $ 132,747.18 for the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, as well as savings of $ 198,684.85 for the years 2015 and 2016. "

Pritzker announced Tuesday that he would reimburse $ 330,000 at the Cook County Treasurer 's Office by the end of the week. The day before, he defended the deduction by saying that he had "respected the rules".

On Monday, Pritzker said the publication of the document was a political initiative.

"This is an internal confidential document from the Office of the Inspector General, who was investigating the appraiser's office, which was leaked for political purposes in the last month of campaign, "he told reporters.

His Republican opponent, incumbent President Bruce Rauner, made much of the toilet problem during the last months of the governors' campaign, publishing an advertisement calling Pritzker "prince of tax evasion porcelain".

"A bank robber who makes money is still a bank robber,Rauner's campaign spokesman, Will Allison, said in a statement.

Rauner is also rich: he and his wife reported adjusted gross income of $ 90 million in 2016.

Despite the problematic image of a billionaire who removes the toilets from his spare mansion to avoid paying $ 300,000 in taxes, Pritzker's chances in the governor's race may have be of no importance. A new poll released Tuesday by the Southern Illinois University's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found that Pritzker had a 22-point lead over Rauner.