A taxing question: How much is the Sears Tower worth?
From the start, it was a Chicago version of David versus Goliath: a middle-class taxpayer, represented by one rather disheveled public-interest attorney, up against a giant corporation, with its money, clout, and legions of lawyers. The showdown took place at a meeting last month of the Cook County Board of Appeals–the two-person body that hears complaints that property has been under- or overassessed. The setting: a stuffy, fluorescent-lit hearing room on the sixth floor of City Hall. In this case, James Duffy, a home owner from the northwest side, had charged that the Sears Tower was underassessed. His case seemed strong. The Sears Tower is up for sale with an asking price of about $1.1 billion, but in 1987 Cook County assessor Thomas Hynes set its fair market value at $329 million. That means Sears, Roebuck and Company paid only $23.5 million in property taxes–less than a third of what it would have paid if the building had been accurately assessed, Duffy charges. “If Sears is not
