Chicago considering raising sales tax to over 10%!!!

[Allisonfaye]

I can''t believe this! It is bad enough at 8.75%!!! I guess it is to fund the CTA shortfalls or something. I am just going to boycott shopping here if this goes through.

 

[chrono]

That is horrible. Why are the people of Chicago paying for the mistakes of the city planners? This is what I don''t understand. Someone messed up the budget, someone overspent, and who pays? The people! Urgh!

 

[Tacori E-ring]

That is horrible! I hope they change their minds.

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 9/19/2007 11:55:08 AM
Author: Tacori E-ring

That is horrible! I hope they change their minds.

Me too, yikes; that is too much!!!

 

[Linda W]

That is horrible!!!!!!!

 

[snlee]

That is crazy!!! I hope it doesn''t get raised!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Are any of the states surrounding IL tax-free? We have sales-tax-free Oregon next to me and if WA raised taxes really high, it'd be worth it to me to drive down there and do all my kids school shopping! (Plus some shopping for me too

)

 

[Dee*Jay]

I wouldn''t mind paying a high sales tax if I felt like it went to do some good. Not to mention property taxes--90+% go toward education so why are we still cranking out morons at high school graduation ceremonies? (Sorry, small threadjack/vent there... )

Allisonfaye, what are we going to do??? I say you should run for public office and straighten all this out. I''ll be your campaign manager.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 9/19/2007 2:56:36 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
I wouldn''t mind paying a high sales tax if I felt like it went to do some good. Not to mention property taxes--90+% go toward education so why are we still cranking out morons at high school graduation ceremonies? (Sorry, small threadjack/vent there... )

Allisonfaye, what are we going to do??? I say you should run for public office and straighten all this out. I''ll be your campaign manager.

Maybe I will!

DH just goes on and on about the corruption in Chicago politics and how much it costs us all to pay huge kickbacks to all of Mayor Daly''s cronies. I do have to admit, I, not being a native Chicagoan, can''t believe all the stuff they get away with here.

 

[Allisonfaye]

I just did a search and found a database that shows the rates for the entire country and this would be the highest, just above Tennessee.

It really isn''t practical to drive out of state from where we are and if you order something from out of state, you pay sales tax if there is a store here. Since it is Chicago, most of the stores ARE here.

 

[monarch64]

Are we talking about Chicago proper here or Cook Co. in general? Curious...

10% is just ridiculous, although it would make tax easier for me to calculate in my brain, lol. Sorry, don''t mean to make light of a very serious topic.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 9/19/2007 10:21:57 PM
Author: monarch64
Are we talking about Chicago proper here or Cook Co. in general? Curious...

10% is just ridiculous, although it would make tax easier for me to calculate in my brain, lol. Sorry, don''t mean to make light of a very serious topic.

Nope. It was going to be like 10.25% or something. I am not sure what the exact figure was. I am sorry. I don''t know if it is all of Cook county or just Chicago. I know it is for the CTA. But I am usually a zombie by the time the 10p.m news is on so half the time I fall asleep.

 

[Emeraldfan]

It says Cook County may raise sales tax by over 2% (making it at least 10.75%). That is ridiculous!!! and so is the quote from the article "When you think about the services we provide,"......


http://www.nbc5.com/politics/14145056/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 9/20/2007 8:22:40 PM
Author: Emeraldfan
It says Cook County may raise sales tax by over 2% (making it at least 10.75%). That is ridiculous!!! and so is the quote from the article ''When you think about the services we provide,''......


http://www.nbc5.com/politics/14145056/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news

When you think about all the kickbacks that need to be paid.....

 

[jas]

I have no problems paying this -- if they somehow manage to not double my commute with the Eden construction. And the Kennedy construction. And, well, everything else dealing with traffic.

You don''t think there''s a secret hidden Olympic component, do you?

 

[asscherisme]

I agree that sucks BUT IL state also has one of the lowest state income tax rates arount- 3% flat tax for income taxes. I know there are some zero income tax states, such as NH but IL state income tax is far below other states such as NY.

 

[Allisonfaye]

Date: 9/29/2007 9:29:26 AM
Author: asscherisme
I agree that sucks BUT IL state also has one of the lowest state income tax rates arount- 3% flat tax for income taxes. I know there are some zero income tax states, such as NH but IL state income tax is far below other states such as NY.

Well, that''s interesting. I didn''t know that.

Today is the day they vote on the sales tax proposed increased. It is supposedly pretty split down the middle on whether they want to do it so I am keeping my fingers crossed. If it passes, I may be forced to organize a grass roots campaign to boycott shopping in Chicago.

 

[omieluv]

Date: 9/28/2007 5:24:26 PM
Author: jas
I have no problems paying this -- if they somehow manage to not double my commute with the Eden construction. And the Kennedy construction. And, well, everything else dealing with traffic.

You don''t think there''s a secret hidden Olympic component, do you?

I was wondering this myself the other day, though I do not have any "facts" to support this idea.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Here's a snippet from an article that was just posted on the Trib site:

"Cook County commissioners postponed a vote on a proposed sales tax today after supporters decided they didn't have enough support to pass it. The County Board may take up the issue again Oct. 16."

Good!!! If they don't have enough support to pass it now maybe it won't EVER happen (at least not any time soon). And I do think there is indeed an Olympic component. No facts to support that either; just gut feeling.

ETA: The 2% increase would only generate an extra $750M for the county anyway. Not really a lot of $$$ in the whole grand scheme of things; maybe not even enough to fix the current CTA problems... Will be interested to see Stroger's "mystery budget" when he finally does get around to making it public!

 

[monarch64]

Thanks DeeJay for the article! I definitely think there is an Olympic component...what does everyone think about hosting the Olympics in Chicago? DH is NOT, NOT, NOT in favor, btw....not being a native I am just listening and learning before I form an opinion...

 

[Allisonfaye]

Oh, and did you guys see on the news how Stroger approached one of the county board members and basically told him that if he voted no, that they would curtail illegal immigration here? The dirty politics here is just sickening. (The guy voted no!!) Yeah.

 

[Beacon]

Guess I won''t be shopping in Chicago any time soon!!

Seriously that tax is very bad for the merchants. People will certainly avoid buying things in the area where that tax is so high. Hello internet shopping! After a tax gets high enuf people change their shopping habits. A 10% + tax would drive me away in a flash. I don''t like getting ripped off.

 

[Allisonfaye]

So now that they didn''t pass the sales tax increase, they are talking about raising property taxes.