I was struck by the number 266% in last Wednesday's Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown’s headline.The incredible Chicago Democratic Party tax hiking machine, this time embodied by Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, wants to impose another two percentage point sales tax hike.
That would bring in about $1 billion.
Put in percentage terms, it’s a 266% hike.
While opposing this 266% sales tax increase, Brown has endorsed the RTA sales tax hike proposal. The Cook County proposal to hike the sales tax from 1/4 of one percent to 2.75 percent is taking flak, but the RTA one keeps chugging along, powered now by visions of casino donations in legislators heads.In McHenry and other collar counties, that plan would increase sales taxes from 1/4 of one percent to 3/4 of one percent.
Yes, I know that 1/4 of one percentage point will be for road improvements, but there is already a law on the books that allows the imposition of such taxes after passage of a referendum.
If McHenry County Board members wants that tax, let them ask for it. Instead of bringing up that topic, they are discussing revising the county's seal.Do the math.
Dividing 1/4 of one percent into the proposed 1/2 of one percent increase gives us a 200% RTA sales tax increase doesn’t it?
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Previously published on McHenry County Blog.
Back in September, Cal spent 50% of his Illinoize posts on the RTA issue.
ReplyDeleteNow in October, 100% of his posts are about the RTA issue.
Do the math: that's a 100% increase in Cal's indignation that he might have to pay an additional forty cents each day to keep mass transit users off his roads.
Statistics don't lie.
PS: Thanks for ackowledging that half of your 200% increase will go to McHenry County road projects.
LOL 47th Ward...
ReplyDeleteDid you know 100% percent of the letters in RTA form an acronym yet that very same acronym is only 9.6% of the full name of the organization?
That's a savings of more than 90% right there.
What was that Mark Twain quote about statistics...? (Don't forget to carry the one.)
Both clever enough to make me chuckle.
ReplyDelete