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.”
Todd’s $6.7 Million ‘Human Error’
It’s not that Todd doesn’t know the rules. Apparently he just doesn’t care about them.
Why else — after being reprimanded by both the Chicago media and the County Board — would he go ahead and approve yet another questionable taxpayer-funded contract to a crony?
The Daily Herald reports:
Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration acknowledged Wednesday that 25 checks worth more than $6.7 million were paid out before receiving the required board approval.
Stroger attributed the “mistake” to “human error,” calling it “more of an issue of you pressed a button when you shouldn’t have done it.” He asked for tolerance, saying, “This is not time to pull someone over the rails.”
Yet, Riverside Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica said some of the checks were as large as $700,000 and pointed to it as a dramatic escalation of the so-called 24-9 contracts - payments just under the $25,000 figure requiring board approval - that Stroger handed out as a lame duck after losing in the Democratic Primary earlier this year. “The ship is not being steered,” Peraica said. “The management is not managing.”
$6.7 million worth of “human error.” Commissioner Peraica is right that the ship isn’t being steered. In fact, it hit the iceberg a long time ago.
And county taxpayers are left treading water.
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.
Oops, They Did it Again: Stroger Crony Gets County Contract
by Tony Peraica
Well, more of your hard-earned tax dollars are going to foot the bill for yet another Stroger crony.
This time, it’s a former Stroger campaign staffer, Ray Harris, who was hired to help the county with collective bargaining agreements (by the way, he’s a former official with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union — just whose side will be he be representing in future county labor negotiations?)
He was supposed to be hired to a one-year, $60,000 contract — but the uproar raised by me and some other reformers forced Stroger to only ask for a one-time $15,000 contract.
Unfortunately, the Cook County Board today voted to approve this crony contract. Commissioner Tim Schneider and I were the only county commissioners to vote “NO” on this contract.
The Sun-Times quoted me following today’s vote:
“This is yet another appointment of a former political worker to the county payroll,” Peraica said. “I think it’s inappropriate. I think it’s something that shouldn’t be allowed or condoned.”
Please click here to watch the video we posted previously in which I discusses this crony contract in more detail.
After November, we’ll be watching closely to see if the newly-elected County Board President decides to continue Harris’ contract — or rightfully cut him from the county payroll.
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.
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