* Jake Griffin…

Robert Werderich used to pay the property taxes he owed for operating his Illinois Aviation Academy out of space he rents from the DuPage Airport Authority.

But he stopped paying years ago, which explains why his company now owes $187,937 in back taxes to 13 taxing bodies, including the airport itself.

Werderich is exploiting a loophole in the state property tax law that fails to penalize tenants operating businesses on government property who ignore property tax bills because the property can’t be seized for noncompliance. […]

Werderich is among at least seven current or former tenants of the airport that owe nearly $770,000 in back taxes, according to property tax sale information released by DuPage County Treasurer Gwen Henry.

The tax sale is where delinquent property taxes are purchased by investors who will either receive interest from the property owner to clear the debt or — after a couple years of nonpayment — be allowed to claim the deed on the land. However, Henry said, no one wants to buy the tax debt for the airport tenants because they can never claim the deed because it’s government land.

There’s also no mechanism to force the tenants to pay the tax obligation.