RTA Tax Hikers Line Up...In Chicago, Of Course
100 politicians showed up to show their support of a consensus for raising taxes for mass transit, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
The press release can be found on McHenry County Blog, complete with subhead
Status quo for transit funding is not sustainableTo find the names of your local officials (I see 3 from McHenry County) , read the press release. If you want to have some fun, ask them which tax they favor hiking.
There was, of course, a regional consensus among similar
politicians, transit officials, labor representatives, businessmen and community activistsin 1973 when the Regional Transportation Authority Act was passed.
That “consensus” deteriorated to a 50-50 referendum passed by less than 13,000 votes at the primary election in March 1974.
Some consensus.
Rumor has it that Roger Stanley, the RTA Citizens Committee for Better Transportation’s pollster, found kNOw RTA forces were gaining one percentage point a day in the closing days of the campaign. (Stanley paid bribes to Metra Board member Don Udstuen and got a lighter sentence, after protesting loudly that he would not flip, for helping in the George Ryan corruption case.)
Of course, Chicagoland’s politicians have learned from that experience.
No future tax hike will have to be approved by referendum.
You can bet on that.
I do find almost quaint the title of the consensus report:
Moving Beyond CongestionIn whose lifetime?
Incidentally, blogger Dan Johnson-Weinberger is doing work for the project.
3 comments:
This is great news! Public transportation in this region and nation needs significantly more funding than it has at present. It would be nice for a change to spend money on something other than a war built on a mountain of lies, unconstitutional detention of American citizens, widespread illegal surveillance of Americans, and tax cuts for Paris Hilton.
What tax do you want increased?
The social planners behind RTA favored a 5% gasoline tax and a parking tax.
The former was abolished and replaced with a general sales tax, while the latter was abolished because Downtown Chicago businesses were losing customers to suburban shopping centers with free parking.
Incidentally, if you want to sign up to help pass higher RTA taxes, the web side I linked to has a place where you actually put your name. (I don't know if "anon" would be good enough.)
The tax that should be increased is the state income tax... you know, the lowest single flat rate for a state income tax in any state of this nation that you and your fellow whatevers treat like it was the plague.
Get real and get sane. You can't run government on magic wishes, and cutting taxes doesn't provide the revenue to keep a buget balanced (for reference, please fer to the sorry record of that budget-busting moron in the White House).
Blagojevich's opposition to an income tax hike is the number one reason I oppose his re-election (although his corrupt administration ranks as a very close second). This is 2006, not 1972. We need to get our heads out of the sand and be realistic about our tax needs.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
Chicago
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