Tax Relief? Repeal the Entire Stroger Sales Tax Hike
The Chicago Tribune reports about how some on the county board are trumpeting the “tax relief” provided when they (spurred by Commissioner Peraica) shaved half a percentage point off the massive sales tax increase pushed by Todd Stroger in 2008.
Calling that minute, half-percentage point reduction “tax relief” is an insult to the taxpayers of Cook County — who deserve nothign less than a full repeal of the Stroger tax hike.
Commissioner Peraica is quoted in the Tribune:
“In my mind, it was just a partial rollback of an ill-advised tax increase,” said Commissioner Tony Peraica, R-Riverside, who voted against the original increase. “I wanted the whole increase rolled back.”
Cook County ‘Jobs’ Program Lost $2.7 Million
ABC 7 Chicago reports:
State documents show that Cook County lost $2.7 million meant to teach job skills to hundreds of suburban residents because it didn’t spend the federal money.
The cash was lost at a time when more than one out of 10 Chicago-area workers are unemployed.
Because of the problems, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity is moving to take over the program until Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s term ends in December.
The good news is that action is being taken to hold this program accountable. The bad news is that the new watchdog will be the State of Illinois.
Today’s Taxing News: Tax Collections Down; Out-of-Town Visitors Getting Whacked
There were two tidbits in today’s headlines that further support my push to fully repeal the Stroger sales tax hike in Cook County.
First, despite rising taxes and fees, tax collections are actually down in the state (again). As the Champaign News-Gazette reports, overall state tax collections are down 9.5% in July.
The reason for this decline? Simple: people are out of work. When they are out of work, their incomes drop (obviously). That leads to a drop in income tax revenues. They also consume less, which leads to a drop in sales taxes. It is for that reason that increasing the income tax and keeping sales taxes high will only further decimate our economy.
If government takes more of the people’s money, it will only cause them to suffer more and spend less. For those individuals who are small business owners, that will also affect job creation.
Pat Quinn and Todd Stroger are wrong: we need less, not more, taxes.
That coincides with another story today that shows that “Chicago is the worst tax city for travelers.” USA Today reports on a new study by the National Business Travel Association:
The study looked at the 50 U.S. cities with the most air passengers. It found that a typical business traveler pays $101.27 in taxes on average for hotel, rental car and meals during a three-day, two-night stay in Chicago— more than in any other city.
So, in other words, our local politicians are doing their best to repel new visitors, tourists and conventioneers from our city. Once again, that won’t result in more tax revenue — it will result in further economic harm that will put our governments deeper in debt.
Not smart. Not smart at all.
Todd’s Missing Campaign Cash
Fox Chicago News is reporting that Todd Stroger’s campaign is “missing” $43,000 from the campaign bank account:
But something tells us Todd (or someone in the campaign) knows exactly where that cash went.
On primary election day, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger cashed two big campaign checks to provide money for getting out the vote. Now the campaign can’t explain exactly where the cash went.
Stroger himself went to Seaway Bank that morning and cashed checks for $18,000 and $25,000. The checks were made out to Stroger. Campaign officials tell us the $43,000 in cash was given to campaign workers as “walking around money” — petty cash used to pay campaign workers.
Walking around money?
Sounds little bit fishy to us. And, as Fox Chicago News reports, the way this money was handled violates campaign finance laws.
As Commissioner Peraica is quoted in the story:
“There’s a pattern of misreporting, false inaccurate incomplete information, that is done either intentionally or gross (negligence) by his finance campaign director,” said Peraica.
Is it just us, or has this been the longest, most troubled “lame duck” period for any politician in history?
Todd, we can’t wait to see you retire.
Tony on Quinn’s Cook County “Tax Reform” Gimmick
PrairieStater.com quotes Tony regarding the gimmicky Cook County property “tax reform” bill signed into law this week by Governor Quinn:
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16), who is also a real estate attorney, is looking for real reform. “We need to reform the tax assessment process to reflect that of Texas, Florida and dozens of other states where you don’t need a PhD in mathematics to figure out how your real estate is assessed and taxed,” Peraica said. “I don’t support these gimmicks and would move for a system that would promote truth in taxation. I would support acquisition based assessment: what is the purchase price of the property, apply the tax levy of various taxing units (there are way to many) and that is your bill. Forget about the equalizer. Exemptions granted should be clear and easy to calculate/implement.”
CBS 2 Chicago Reports on our Flood Assistance Meeting
CBS 2 Chicago reported on Commissioner Peraica’s town hall meeting on local flood assistance efforts. You can view the video here.
CBS 2 Chicago’s Vince Gerasole reports:
Where is the federal aid? Thousands of rain-soaked and flood-ravaged families in our area are asking that question. Torrential downpours last weekend dumped 60 billion gallons of water on the Chicago area. Today those folks are still trying to clean up and dry out.
“The process is fraught with bureaucracy and it is taking too long,” said Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica.
Peraica sponsored a disaster information seminar Saturday morning. He says a team from the County is in Washington today lobbying the state’s Congressional delegation and the White House to push the declaration along, a process that could take up to six more weeks.
NY Times: Cook County Health System Staff Reductions ‘Not Enough’
The New York Times reported on staff reductions at the Cook County Health and Hospital System — quoting Commissioner Peraica in their story:
Despite facing a $42 million shortfall in patient revenue, the Cook County Health and Hospitals System has laid off only 100 workers out of the 1,350 positions that administrators promised to eliminate this fiscal year.
A six-month status report shows 665 vacant positions and 335 filled positions that have been eliminated. But of the filled positions, only about 100 workers were actually laid off.
“I don’t understand how you’re going to make this up by the end of the fiscal year,” said Tony Peraica, a member of the Cook County Board.
VIDEO: County Board Update
Recovering from the Floods
The Fox Chicago News story below details some of the efforts to help local residents recover the flood, and highlights the press conference in which Commissioner Peraica participated yesterday.
Please also click here to visit Commissioner Peraica’s county Web site to learn more about flood relief assistance.
In Case You Missed It: Tribune Whacks Endorsers of Stroger, Berrios
Filed under: Blagojevich, Budget, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Reform, Taxes, Todd Stroger
We meant to post this earlier today, because it’s just a wonderful editorial by the Chicago Tribune.
Not only does the Tribune take a nice whack at all those Democrat politicians who endorsed Todd Stroger for County Board President in 2006 — they whack many of those same politicians for endorsing Cook County Board of Review Commissioner/Cook Democratic Party Chair Joe Berrios in 2010:
The list of pols who endorsed Stroger survives online, and for that we’re supremely grateful. His endorsers remain stakeholders in his broken promises, his patronage-larded budgets, and his notorious Friends and Family Hiring Plan.
Much as they might wish voters would forget their Stroger legacy, he’s all theirs:
Mayor Richard M. Daley is on the list, as are Durbin and now-President Obama. So are U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr., Dan Lipinski, Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
Five statewide officeholders — Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn, Lisa Madigan, Dan Hynes and Jesse White — also urged the rest of us to elect Todd Stroger.
And here’s the piece about Berrios:
What’s especially galling is that many of those who endorsed Stroger now have endorsed his crony Joe Berrios, a lobbyist, member of the county tax appeal board and candidate for the influential office of county assessor. When not in Springfield lobbying Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (a Stroger endorser) and Senate President John Cullerton (a Berrios endorser), Berrios passes judgment on … tax appeals for clients of Madigan’s and Cullerton’s law firms. That conflict is grotesque.
Good for the Chicago Tribune.
We’re somewhat surprised they didn’t mention the fact that their competitor, the Sun-Times, also endorsed Todd in 2006.
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