RTA Sales Tax Hike Deal Quantified in Collar Counites

If there were ever an instance where the bias in favor of tax hikes was evident in the Northwest Herald, it is evidenced in the headline covering the top of the front page on Wednesday,

RTA: Don't forget about us

It’s not that the article by Kevin Craver is unbalanced.

It does report Crystal Lake Republican State Rep. Mike Tryon’s opposition to the “sales-tax increase.”

No word in the article on how State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Bull Valley) and State Sen. Pam Althoff (R-McHenry) will vote.

And, Craver does something I have seen no other reporter do.

He actually points out that the RTA wants to DOUBLE its sales tax take.

And, Craver pulls out a detail that I have not seen elsewhere.

Included in the deal is another tax of the same amount--¼ of 1%--to pay for local road projects collar counties think are important.

That will be a total sales tax hike of 7.7%!

That’s 7.7%!

How do I get that?

The tax hike proposal is for an addition one-half of one-percent.

The sales tax rate now in most of McHenry County is now 6.5%, with Algonquin at 7.25% and Lake in the Hills is at 7%.

Do the division on the base rate of 6.5%, which is what shoppers are charged in the rest of McHenry County.

One-half of a percentage point divided by 6.5 percentage points is 7.7%.

Now that’s not as large an increase as the income tax hikers want—66 2/3 percent—but it is a big hike.

I’m think it’s about for a headline that says,

Taxpayers: Don’t forget about us.

But, of course, taxpayers don’t have tax paid lobbyists and publicists to initiate a story in newspapers like the Northwest Herald.

Published first on McHenry County Blog, where liberals think the writer is too interested in tax hikes. And, after tomorrow, they will be certain.