Feb 27, 2008 2:00 pm US/Central
County Debates Tax Plan As Budget Deadline Looms
Hotel, Hospitality Industry Protest Stroger's Sales Tax Plan
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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A 2 percent sales tax increase has been proposed to help balance Cook County's budget, but many are opposed to the measure. It would make Cook County's sales tax among the highest in the nation.
CBS
The Cook County Board on Wednesday was debating whether it should approve any increase in the local sales tax, or hike other levies like the hotel tax. That has some business leaders predicting dire consequences.
As WBBM Newsradio 780 Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Marc Gordon, president of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, says there are some 190,000 people working in the hotel and hospitality industry in this area.
Gordon says if Cook County raises its sales tax by about one percent, it would make the local hotel sales tax the highest of any of the cities it competes with, like Las Vegas and Orlando. And that would put Chicago—and its workers—at a disadvantage.
He says the sales tax in Las Vegas is 9 percent and the one in Orlando is 11.5 percent. Chicago, he says, currently has a 15-point-4 percent sales tax, and it would go up.
But allies of County Board President Todd Stroger say new revenue is needed or health services for many low-income people and others will be in jeopardy.
Ralph Martire, director of the Center for Tax and Budget accountability, says the problem is that no one believes Cook County government has eliminated waste and patronage employees, and it hasn't—he says—and it's costing taxpayers millions.
On the other hand, says Martire, the county really needs new revenue to maintain the health care system relied upon by so many poor people and others.
He suggests the County Board write a sunset date into any sales tax hike, so it would expire if real tax reform—and real reform of a bloated system—aren't enacted.
State law requires the board to pass a balanced budget by the end of February, or parts of county government may shut down.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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