County nears deal on sales tax hike

March 1, 2008

By Steve Patterson, Sun-Times News Group

A drink at the bar, a fast-food meal and back-to-school shopping are among those things about to get a bit more expensive in Cook County.

Late Friday, county board President Todd Stroger struck a deal with commissioners for an increase of 1 percentage point in the sales tax - driving Chicago's overall sales tax to 10.25 percent, easily the highest of any big city in the United States.

And the higher county tax will be enacted in November, just in time for the shopping season.

After months of the county's perhaps most contentious budget battle ever and the looming threat of court intervention in the budget debate, the county's $3.2 billion budget is set to be balanced by hiking the county's share of the sales tax from 0.75 to 1.75 percent and by doubling the parking tax, driving the county's share of that tax from about $20 a month to about $40.

The sales tax increase will bring in more than $400 million in new cash every year to the county. This year, it will bring in about $71 million. The increased parking tax is expected to bring in $35 million a year.

The county faces an approximately $234 million budget deficit.

The influx of money likely will help Stroger avoid having to seek a tax increase in 2009 and possibly in 2010, when he's up for re-election. Stroger had been one vote away from hiking the sales tax to 2.75 percent and said he would refuse to come down below a rate of 2 percent.

But after a day of heavy negotiating, including intervention by labor leaders such as Dennis Gannon, of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and elected officials such as Sheriff Tom Dart, the deal appeared to be done as of late Friday night.

The swing vote to pass the budget was set to come from Commissioner Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston), who campaigned for state's attorney on a boast that he had "stood up to Todd Stroger's tax increases." As of Friday night, his Web site still quoted him as saying "at this point, I see no need for any increase in taxes."

But Suffredin's willingness to deal came after Stroger agreed to give up control of the county hospital system - a patronage dumping ground for decades' worth of politicians - to an outside governing board of professionals through 2010, sources said. They said commissioners were pressing their midnight deadline Friday because of haggling over how that control will play out, sources said.

But if approved, the deal will allow county courts, the jail, health clinics and hospitals, among other county government functions, to remain operating for another year.

Business leaders and others predicted immediate negative ramifications from the higher sales tax.

"Chicago now has the unfortunate notoriety of having the highest sales tax in the country, and our region will now be a more expensive place to visit, live, work and operate a business," said Jerry Roper, head of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. "The people of our region should be outraged."

http://www.southtownstar.com/news/82066 ... ty.article

* So glad I sold my home and headed for the hills outside of illegal alien loving Cook County.