In the Chicago suburbs, a business owner thought he’d take a shortcut by offering bribes to an official in the local Assessor’s office. How it went down and the results demonstrate how complicated the business of assessments and appeals can get.  

Let’s consider the dimensions of bribery. Yes, bribery. A recent piece on Chicago public television station WTTW’s website described the lengths to which business owners can go to ensure their assessments are lowered to manage their property tax burden.

In a case that took place in Cook County, Illinois, a local official within the Cook County Assessor’s office was bribed by the owner of a construction company over the course of three years with meals, sports, tickets, jewelry, and the use of vacation homes in exchange for that assessor providing various concessions to the business owner, with the end goal being a lower property tax assessment.

As a result, that business owner was charged with one count of conspiring to bribe a public official, as well as additional federal charges. For each charge, the defendant faces up to five years in prison!

For anyone willing to go to such lengths to lower their property tax obligations, why not take the time to do it right? When all property tax data is centralized on one platform, users can access accurate insights and make strategic decisions. The goal, of course, is to spend time tabling assessment appeals that are likely to succeed.  

Undoubtedly, bribery is one approach that some might use in an effort to lower property tax assessments, but there are other methods that are a lot less risky. One of those methods is using itamlink which analyzes many data points to see how well an assessment matches up with a property’s true value. If you use itamlink, you can potentially save on property taxes, save your sports tickets, and perhaps avoid a date with the long arm of the law.

To find out more about itamlink, and a demo, click the link here.