Preckwinkle’s Broken Tax Promise … Is Anyone Surprised?
Toni Preckwinkle has tried her hardest to make the electorate believe she is a reformer.
She won, in large part, by running as the anti-Stroger.
But today, she showed her true colors by backtracking on her no-new-taxes campaign promise. Usually politicians wait until after their elected to “forget” their campaign promises — but it appears Toni is launching a pre-emptive announcement that she will be sticking it to the taxpayers if she’s elected in November:
Toni Preckwinkle, the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board president, says she’s been told by insiders that the county budget deficit has ballooned to at least $250 milion, perhaps as high as $500 million.
As a result, Preckwinkle said she won’t be able to deliver on her campaign promise to repeal the remaining half-penny sales-tax increase until 2012 at the earliest.
Your call to action is simple: make sure Tony Peraica wins re-election to provide a counter to the tax hikers, and make sure Roger Keats defeats Toni Preckwinkle in the November Election.
Do we really need a “Coffee Czar” in Cook County?
Just when you think you’ve seen it all, you remember that you live in Cook County and nothing is surprising.
Despite the constant warnings of financial Armageddon and push for tax hikes from elected officials at the state, county and city levels, we continue to see stories of waste, fraud and abuse of our tax dollars.
Take, for instance, this story from today’s issue of The Prairie Stater.
It appears that county taxpayers are footing the bill for coffee … To the tune of tens of thousands of dollars per month:
Thanks to the county’s new “Open County Initiative”, which allows the public to search and view the county check register online, we identified $76,291 in checks that were paid to Elgin-based ACE Coffee Holdings, Inc. since December 2009. According to the company’s Web site, in addition to coffee, ACE sells additional products, such as cups, lids, sports drinks, water, tea and snacks. Additional government entities with which the company has had contracts include the Illinois Tollway Authority, Community Consolidated School District 54 (Schaumburg), the Oak Park Township Senior Services Nutrition Program, the University of Illinois and the Illinois State Board of Education.
The story goes on to detail the company’s significant campaign contributions to local politicos.
Commissioner Peraica is also quoted:
I’ve long said we have pay-to-play on ’steroids’ here in Cook County, but it appears it might actually be fueled by coffee.
Need we say more?
Tony at the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party
Tony provides this video update from the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party, held earlier today at Chicago’s Daley Plaza:
Text REFORM to 77007: Tell the Board of Review Not to Play Politics With Your Property Taxes
This week the focus is on federal Tax Day — the deadline for us all to file our federal income taxes.
And, yes, while federal taxes are burdensome and growing, we must not forget about the tax shenanigans going on right here in Cook County.
The insiders fought my efforts to roll back Todd Stroger’s record sales tax increase — but we won.
Now, they are trying to play politics with your property tax bills by delaying their distribution until after Election Day.
Text REFORM to 77007 on your mobile phone to tell these insiders not to play politics with your property taxes.
In short — they are terrified of a Cook County tax revolt on Election Day.
We’re making it easy for you to send a message: text REFORM to 77007 on your mobile phone.
By sending that text, we’ll reply right away with a text to patch you through to the Cook County Board of Review to demand that they stop playing politics with your property tax bills.
When you call:
- Be respectful and stick to the facts.
- Tell them you are a concerned taxpayer who wants to ensure that property tax bills are sent out on time — before November Election Day.
- Thank them for listening to your concerns.
Your grassroots action helped us roll back Todd Stroger’s tax increase.
Let’s use that same enthusiasm to ensure that the insiders don’t abuse the property tax system here in Cook County.
Thank you for continued support in the fight for honest reform. I am proud to continue working for you as Cook County Commissioner.
Open Letter to Illinois Republicans
To All Illinois Republicans:
How’s this for a “doomsday” scenario: tax increases will plunge Illinois into further economic crisis, hurting economic growth and job creation and causing our state’s budget deficit to grow even larger.
As such, any legislator – Republican or Democrat – who supports tax increases is voting against jobs, workers and the Illinois economy … and they should be voted out of office.
Unfortunately, this week we’ve heard some Illinois Republicans referring to tax hikes as “revenue enhancers” and refusing to rule out the possibility of raising our taxes.
History is clear. When you cut taxes, you increase economic growth, which, in turn, leads to increased tax revenues.
Afraid of being the party of “no” – some Republicans are anxious to cut a deal with Pat Quinn and the Democrats that supports some “reform” concessions in exchange for a tax increase.
This is wrong. It will enable the Democrats’ continued mismanagement of state government. It will hurt each and every Illinois taxpayer.
Real leadership is about doing the hard work necessary to present an alternative plan and standing firm on principle. It’s not about cutting a deal simply to get a budget passed and stop the Democrat PR barrage.
The people I represent in Cook County are suffering. Business bankruptcies have shot up 60%; mortgage foreclosures have gone from 12,000 to 50,000 per year; and, we are paying the highest sales and gasoline taxes in the country.
Unemployment in Cook County now stands at 9.5% — and it’s above 40% for African-American males between the ages of 18-40.
And yet our legislators want to make the situation worse by doubling the state income tax, exploding the expansion of gambling, increasing taxes on everything from cigarettes, alcohol and candy to a host of other services.
Some of us on the Cook County Board have held firm in opposition to Todd Stroger’s tax increase because it’s the right thing to do. Now it’s time for the Illinois General Assembly to do the same by holding firm against the Democrat tax hikes.
Every one of the constituents I represent in the 16th District of Cook County will be hurt by a tax increase.
Any Republican who supports a tax hike in these tough economic times should be voted out of office in February 2010.
It’s time to start acting like Republicans and standing on basic, sound, time-tested economic principles.
It’s time to, once and for all, do what is right for the people of Illinois.
Sincerely,
Tony Peraica
Cook County Commissioner – 16th District
Chicago North Shore Tea Party Sat. June 20
Are you disgusted with the so called stimulus boondoggle? Do you want to send a message to Springfield “tax eaters” who are conspiring to raise the state income tax? Do you live in Cook County? Are you fed up with paying the nation’s highest sales taxes?
Then come to Skokie’s Harms Woods, at the intersection of Harms and Old Orchard Roads, on Saturday June 20 for the North Shore Tea Party.
This patriotic event will run from 11:00am-1:00pm. Bring a lawn chair, a sign, and a package of non-perishable food for the hungry.
Speakers include:
- Tony Peraica, Cook County Commissioner
- Rosanna Pulido, IL Minuteman Coordinator
- Sheila Weinberg, CEO, Institute For Truth In Accounting
- State Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine)
- WLS-AM Commentator Dan Proft
- John Ruberry of Marathon Pundit
Harms Woods, where readers of Marathon Pundit know is the place where I do much of my running, is just a half-mile west of Interstate 94.
Click here for more information.
Voters, Spending and Taxes
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Reform, Spending, Taxes
Last week, Rasmussen Reports released a poll showing that 77% of Americans see government officials’ unwillingness to cut government spending as a bigger problem than voters’ resistance to tax hikes:
For nearly four-out-of-five U.S. voters, the problem is not their unwillingness to pay taxes. It’s their elected representatives’ refusal to cut the size of government.
Those poll numbers are music to our ears … but will these numbers actually translate at the ballot box?
After all, for years, the issue of political “pork” has made headlines. And polls regularly show that Americans disapprove of this political spending of taxpayer dollars.
But year after year … voters actually reward politicians who bring home the bacon.
It’s most likely an issue of voters disliking politicians who bring pork to other districts … but reward those who bring these pork-barrel projects to their own district. After all, one man’s pork project is another citizen’s paved road or sewer project, right?
It’s an ongoing problem — especially since, here in Illinois, the root of our corruption and budgetary problems is the spending process. Pork is exactly what has bred our notorious pay-to-play and budget deficits.
But corruption has been here for years — and so have the deficits. Yet the voters have continued to reward the same Democrat politicians who have brought this upon us.
Will 2010 be different? Let’s hope so — and let’s hope the poll results released last week will translate at the ballot boxes.
On Tax Day…Peraica to Introduce a Repeal of the County Sales Tax Hike
Stay tuned for more …
But next Wednesday (Tax Day), Tony Peraica will introduce an ordinance to repeal last year’s massive Cook County sales tax hike.
Pass the word…
High Taxes Taking Toll on ‘Magnificent Mile’
This morning’s Wall Street Journal has a story highlighting the rough times being experienced by retailers on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.
A big part of the challenges for this employers? The rising tax burden:
The market has softened as retailers in Chicago confront growing demands. The sales tax in surrounding Cook County was raised last year to 10.25%, highest in the nation. This year, after the city privatized public parking meters, downtown rates climbed to $3.50 an hour. State legislators are considering a series of tax increases to close a nearly $12 billion budget deficit.
Why can’t the insiders in Cook County see that our oppressive tax burden is hurting our employers - the people who create jobs for our workers.
The interesting part is that liberals readily admit that taxes on “sins” such as carbon, gasoline or cigarettes results in less smokers or less gasoline usage.
So why they do they refuse to acknolwedge that higher sales taxes result in less shoppers, less employers, less jobs…and less tax revenue.
Like most things in Cook County politics…it simply makes no sense.
Thoughts on yesterday’s elections
Filed under: Budget, Corruption, Elections, Mayor Daley, Proviso Township, Reform, Spending, Taxes
The results at the polls in yesterday’s municipal elections were mixed.
In some municipalities, such as Bensenville, the machine-backed candidate won. (In that case, Daley was exacting revenge of Bensenville incumbent Village President John Geils for opposing Daley’s misguided O’hare boondoggle.)
In a township such as Proviso, the machine incumbents barely held on to power - but lost some key seats to reform-minded candidates.
In watching tonight’s edition of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight - an interesting bit of information was thrown out: this year, 69% of incumbents held their seats, compared to 73% two years ago, and 81% two years before that.
The trend is clear: incumbents aren’t as safe as they used to be.
Much of that can be attributed to voter anger - at the continued corruption and the skyrocketing taxes they are forced to pay in Cook County (and perhaps at the state level, as well.)
In fact, the voter angst over Cook County’s massive sales tax resulted in three townships voting to secede from the county. The Huffington Post reports more on that situation:
Referenda in Barrington, Hanover and Palatine Townships on whether or not to disconnect from Cook County, where the sales tax rate is the highest in the country, all passed overwhelmingly Tuesday, revealing the depth of unrest over the county’s 1 percent sales tax increase in 2008.
And we are sure to see that anti-tax voter sentiment amplified at the Tax Day Tea Parties being organized in Chicago and some suburbs next week.
The key is to keep this movement growing and to ensure that the anti-tax forces beat back the status quo politicians at the polls in 2010. Whether it’s the Cook County Board Presidency, the Governorship, or any of a host of key General Assembly seats - next year is a year in which the voices of reform need to join together to take back Illinois from the corrupt and the inept who are costing us millions in “corruption taxes” and who have made our state a national embarrassment.
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