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It took little time after this year’s Cook County property tax bills became public for the political gamesmanship to begin.

This year’s bills showed Chicago homeowners’ median property tax bills jumped 16.7% over last year, according to the Cook County treasurer, while the collective bills for commercial real estate in the Loop dropped by $129 million.

Within days, the metastasizing debate over who was responsible for the rising tax burden collided with deepening ideological rifts in Chicago and Cook County. And it happened at an especially combustible moment — in the middle of the city’s delayed budget season and as several key Democratic primary contests ramp up.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies, eager to steer public anger away from

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