Stroger tax increase proposal
President of the Cook County Board Todd Stroger says it's essential to raise taxes... big time... to prevent cuts in vital county services.
Chicago Tribune (Mickey Ciokajlo):
Stroger's critics are skeptical. They point out that in the past Stroger preferred to cut essential services for the poor, rather than jobs for his cronies.
A Sun-Times editorial expressed significant skepticism.
Mary Mitchell (Sun-Times) gives a defense of Stroger's tax increase proposal.
If you want to weigh-in on the Forest Preserve portion of the tax increase there will be a hearing at the Maybrook Courthouse on Thursday at 6 PM. See Sun-Times (Steve Patterson).
Chicago Tribune (Mickey Ciokajlo):
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger wants to triple the sales tax and double the gas and parking taxes to pay for 1,130 new county jobs and cover rising costs.
Stroger's critics are skeptical. They point out that in the past Stroger preferred to cut essential services for the poor, rather than jobs for his cronies.
A Sun-Times editorial expressed significant skepticism.
Ah, but look what happens in 2009, when the county gets a full calendar year of those new taxes. It collects a staggering $981 million in extra money -- which Stroger admits is way more than the county will need. But don't worry, he says. He'll simply find a way to put the extra money back in taxpayers' pockets. He says he'd cut the parking tax and the gas tax, maybe even the real estate tax, which amounts to $720 million a year. He's not sure.
"We'll repeal the other taxes and the 2 percent will keep us going," he told the Sun-Times editorial board.
In other words, Stroger wants us to trust him.
Mary Mitchell (Sun-Times) gives a defense of Stroger's tax increase proposal.
If you want to weigh-in on the Forest Preserve portion of the tax increase there will be a hearing at the Maybrook Courthouse on Thursday at 6 PM. See Sun-Times (Steve Patterson).
Labels: budget, Chicago Tribune, Mary Mitchell, sales tax, Sun-Times, Todd Stroger
posted by Carl Nyberg at
8:04 PM
1 Comments:
Someone asked the question "Any other signs that times are hard???"
after making mention of Stroger's and Daley's tax requests, and the fact that "Schools across the entire state, including Proviso High Schools, are laying off employees". Funny, he mentioned the unpaid furlough at Freedom Baptist to fix money problems and the layoffs at Rock of Ages. I wonder if he is trying to send a message?
It is almost as if the guy who runs that insider blog is, like, the president of the school board or something. Or maybe works for him. Ya think?
Do "sources in Florida" say that the questions on that blog are leading questions intended to advance the agenda of any particular politician?
Here's a sign that times are hard: politicians continue to buy things like giant beans (or $100,000 worth of garbage cans) when they know they don't have the money, and they still expect the little guy to foot the bill or lose his job.
By
Anonymous, at 11:04 PM, October 23, 2007
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