Cook County commissioners vote to cut in half Stroger sales tax increase

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Dennis Byrne on 11.17.09 at 2:42 PM | 1 comment
Not far enough.

Instead of cutting Todd Stroger's sales tax increase of one cent on the dollar, the commissioners for the sake of "compromise" settled for a half-cent reduction.Some
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Cook County Board Chairman Todd Stroger at the board meeting today. (Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune)

commissioners believed that granting full relief from the levy that gave Chicago the highest sales tax in the country couldn't survive a Stroger veto. That's even with the recent passage of a state law that weakened Stroger's veto power.

Here's what I'm getting to: In the debate, Stroger accused his opponents of engaging in class warfare. He said, "This has really become a battle of the haves and the have nots, and there are more haves than have nots." Baloney. In fact, the sales tax is regressive, taking a greater share of the income of poor people than the rich. The low- and middle-classes would benefit the most from a sales tax cut. Stroger has to know that, but he twisted the truth anyway, to keep the money rolling in to support the wasteful and corrupt county government that he heads.

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1 Comment

Tukas said:

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Chickens! Roll the whole thing back and cut government down to size.

Posted on November 17, 2009 4:44 PM
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