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January 2007 USA Today reported on Emanuel and his wife’s tax-exempt "foundation" (operated out of their Chicago residence:
SOURCE http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-01-28-pelosi-side_x.htm
The tax-exempt Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Trust was formed in 2002, when the Chicagoan was first elected to Congress. The former Clinton White House aide and his wife, Amy Rule, are its only donors.
Emanuel was a Wall Street investment banker after serving in the White House under Clinton. The tax-exempt 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 tax-exempt "charity" gave nearly $25,000 to the Anshe Emet synagogue and school [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. Rahm's wife is on Marwen’s board.
Rahm apparently doesn’t pay any property taxes and he gets income tax write-offs by donating $25000 to the Synagogue and other amounts of money to his tax-exempt Foundation.
This allows Rahm's kids to attend school tuition-free and allows him to expense a lot of personal outlays.
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COMMENTS What a racket! Take all your income and donate it back to yourself via tax exempt "charities" where you can spend it as expenses to operate your car, pay electric and water bills, etc.
If you are a hypocritical “liberal” Democrat who advocates raising taxes on everyone else, this is all permissible.
Emanuel’s 4228 North Hermitage home 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 homes on Emanuel’s block are valued in the $500,000 plus range. According to Cook County Treasurer’s website, the Chicago owners of nearby 118 year old 4222 North Hermitage pay almost $6800 annually.
President Obama - himself a connected, Chicago insider who has benefited from questionable land deals - may find it difficult to explain why his very own Chicago-based chief of staff doesn’t pay property taxes......... like all the “little guys” he claims to represent.
Or perhaps allowing his wealthy friends to avoid taxes is part of Obama’s trickle down redistribution economics. It’s certainly the kind of “change” we can believe in............
Since Obama has ended the tax deduction for all charitable giving, as well as the tax exempt status of charities, Emanuel will have to figure out another scam.