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Chicago Politicians Seek New Taxes, Fees
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[October 27, 2007]
CHICAGO (AP) -- Life in America's third-largest city is already expensive: Motorists pay some of the highest gas prices in the nation, and shoppers get hit with sales taxes higher than those in New York or Los Angeles. Now it could get even worse.
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 Mayor Richard Daley is seeking a host of new taxes and fee increases to pay for a $5.4 billion city budget. Proposals include slapping a 10-cent levy on every bottle of water, raising property taxes and charging SUV drivers $120 instead of $90 for an annual city sticker.
"To keep our city's progress going, I decided - reluctantly - that as our last resort we must ask taxpayers for more," Daley said when he presented his budget earlier this month.
On top of that, the county that includes Chicago is also considering a sales tax increase that would push the rate in the city to 11 percent The current 9 percent rate in Chicago already tops other big cities, including New York at 8.37 percent and Los Angeles at 8.25 percent.
Some state lawmakers want an extra regional sales tax increase in the city and suburbs to bail out cash-strapped mass transit agencies. And at least one county official wants to raise local gas taxes.
"From a national perspective, the range of taxes that are being proposed and the size of the tax increases ... have everyone wondering: What is going on in Chicago?" asked Laurence Msall, president of a Chicago-based tax watchdog group called the Civic Federation.
Proponents argue that the money is needed to maintain public transportation, pay for new libraries and provide health care. But some critics are skeptical because the city and Cook County have reputations for larding up their budgets with high-paying jobs and contracts for the politically connected.
"Everyone has to give a little, and neither of these governments are saying:
'This is what we're cutting back on,'" said David Winner, president of a Chicago neighborhood association.
Chicagoan Nicole Carney is particularly incensed by the county's proposal to raise sales taxes. "Eleven percent sales tax is just outrageous," she said.
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 Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich opposes a proposed sales tax increase to fund mass transit. But the Chicago Transit Authority, which runs the city's famed elevated trains and its buses, is threatening to eliminate more than half its bus routes and raise fares as high as $3.25 if it doesn't get more money.
To come up with transportation money, lawmakers are also considering expanding gambling, including allowing a Chicago casino.
Chicago's steep gas prices are partly a result of local gasoline taxes of 11 cents per gallon. The Democratic county board president has suggested doubling the county portion of that tax, potentially raising total local gas taxes to 17 cents a gallon.
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce President Jerry Roper says a sales tax increase would hit the working poor the hardest. People can avoid buying water to escape the proposed water-bottle tax, and they can drive to Indiana to buy cheaper gas.
But the sales tax "really hits you right in the neighborhood," Roper said.
Republican Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica blames one-party political dominance in Illinois, where Democrats control city, county and state government.
"There are no checks and balances. There's no accountability. They feel they can do whatever they want with impunity and with a great degree of hubris," said Peraica, who lost the election last year for the county's top job. "The taxpayers are going to get stuck."
[Associated Press;
By DEANNA BELLANDI]
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