WARNING FROM COOK COUNTY BOARD PRESIDENT - Deep Cuts Without Big Tax Increases!
PRESIDENT TODD STROGER PREDICTS CUTS TO HEALTH CARE, OTHER SERVICES!
For several months now, the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Todd Stroger, has predicted dire consequences if the board fails to pass adequate tax increases to cover a projected $238 Million dollar deficit. The board has until the end of February to enact a new budget.
Stroger's proposals have included a 2.00% increase to Cook's Counties slice of the State of Illinois Sales tax. Effective April 1st, this tax will increase as high as 9.50% in some areas, including Chicago, under a recent agreement to increase the sales tax in Cook and Surrounding Chicago-area Counties between 0.25% and 0.50%. The Board President's increase would result in Sales Taxes as high as 11.50% - near tops in the U.S. - if passed.
The Board is also considering a separate Cook County Vehicle Tax of $40 per vehicle across the county. This new tax would be applied in addition to any local taxes imposed by individual municipalities. In Chicago, for example, the city charges $75 for an annual vehicle sticker - the total tax would increase to $115 for motorists owning a car registered within the city.
Recent attempts to increase the sales tax in Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, have failed. Board members are attempting to trim a draft $3.3 Billion County Budget proposed earlier this year by collecting past-due fees and delinquent taxes due the county. According to Stroger, new taxes are needed to fill the gap even a reduced budget could contain.
Home buyers in the City of Chicago are recently reeling from an increase to the Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax, paid by the buyer here, of 40% - to $10.50 per thousand dollars of a home's purchase price, as well as the 0.25% sales tax increase passed by the IL General Assembly in January. These emergency tax increases will fund budget shortfalls for Chicago and Chicago Area Mass Transit. Massive service cuts and fare increases would have been enacted were these increases not passed.
See Hal Dardick's story in the Saturday, February 9th edition of The Chicago Tribune for more info.
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