According to a report, Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), is one of more than 27,000 Cook County homeowners who don't pay any property taxes.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Duckworth and other homeowners who are exempt from tax take advantage of exemptions made possible by the Illinois General Assembly over the years.
However, critics claim that all these exemptions make it too easy for people to pay no taxes, increasing the burden on people who do not qualify for tax breaks.
Laurence Msall, the president of Chicago's tax watchdog group, the Civic Federation, stated that "What we did was to create all kinds of special categories veterans, disabled persons, and senior citizens" and that the exemptions administered in this way "essentially undermine the integrity of property tax system."
Msall said that people are granted relief regardless of their income, while the rest of the community must pay more. It is unfair and difficult to track who gets the value. Are the people in need getting the value or is this a big giveaway?
Duckworths, a 53-year-old U.S. senator, pays zero property taxes as she is a disabled U.S. veteran with a disability rating of 70% or more, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
According to the Sun-Times, she and other similarly disabled veterans from Cook County who own homes receive the tax break regardless their income level.
Duckworth lost her right arm and both legs after her helicopter was struck by a rocket-fired bomb in Iraq in 2004.
According to the newspaper, she and her husband have not paid property taxes in Illinois since 2015. They also saved more than $42,000 by taking advantage of exemptions. According to the report, the couple has a three-bedroom home in Hoffman Estates (Cook County), valued at approximately $250,000.
Bryan Bowlsbey, the senator, and his wife, Duckworth, also have a $1.3 million home in Virginia with six bedrooms. They were charged more than $16,000 in taxes in this year's report. According to the Sun-Times, Virginia has a similar exemption for disabled vets to that in Cook County, Illinois. Duckworth and her husband don't qualify, however, because their Virginia home isn't their primary residence.
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Duckworth earns an annual salary $174,000, and she also earned royalties of more than $300,000. Both 2019 and 2020, she was paid royalties from a book she wrote, according to the report. Her husband's income, who is a cybersecurity expert, was not clear.
According to the Sun-Times, senators are eligible for tax breaks in Illinois up until their deaths. If her husband is still alive, he will also be eligible for the exemption, unless he remarries.
Duckworth declined Sun-Times requests for interviews, but she did respond when a reporter asked her about her tax-break during a Friday public appearance.
Duckworth replied, "Im shocked that someone would question veterans who were wounded in service to the nation in a conflict zone accessing benefits," according to The Sun-Times.
Duckworth's spokesperson said that the senator receives the same benefit as any veteran with similar disabilities.
According to the report, Ben Garmisa, a spokesperson for Sen. Duckworth stated that he believes that everyone should pay their fair amount in taxes and that all who have served our country in uniform should be entitled to the benefits they have earned.
