Politics

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Three times the Cook County Board voted to cut sales taxes. Three times Board President Todd Stroger vetoed the cut. On Tuesday, the board again voted to lower your taxes and this time the rollback may stick.

Stroger's tax hike put Chicago and Cook County on the map for having the highest tax rates in the country, but that's about to change. If the board's Tuesday vote stands up, the current county sales tax will drop from 1.75 percent to 1.25 percent. It will take effect in July.

But as CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, opponents of the rollback predict the poor will be hit hard by reduced health care services.

"This is about a battle of the haves and the have- nots," Stroger said at Tuesday's board meeting. "And the haves have more than the have nots."

The half-penny tax rollback is scheduled to take effect in July of next year, if it survives another veto.

Stroger said he intends to veto it, again. But this time, due to that change in state law, the same 12 votes that passed it could also overturn any veto.

The commissioners tried rollbacks twice before, but the third time is expected to be the charm. A new state law signed by Gov. Pat Quinn earlier this month makes it easier to override Stroger's veto of the rollback. Now they only need a 60 percent majority instead of 80 percent to win.

"This is a great day for the taxpayers of Chicago," said Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16th). "I've been working on this since July of 2008 and finally stroger's sales tax is going to be repealed."

"Every single constituent in my district is not in favor of higher taxes, so I will vote in favor of the rollback," said Commissioner Edwin Reyes (D-8th).

"I think they have enough votes to roll back the veto," said Commissioner William Beavers (D-4th). "But I will not vote for it. I'm concerned about the hospitals."

With his penny sales tax hike about the be cut in half, Stroger accused tax hike opponents of simply not caring about the county's poor, a charge they strongly rejected.

"This isn't about the haves and have nots," Peraica said. "This budget of $3.1 billion has plenty of money to meet our constitutional obligations."

Opponents of the tax hike said it has convinced consumers to shop outside of Cook County, especially for big ticket items.
"People are window shopping in our areas and spending their money in Lake, Du Page and Will counties," said Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman (R-17th).

And longtime reformers claimed the cut will finally force the county to trim payroll fat.

"It's going to force the board to do what it should have done all along which is to make elected officials accountable and begin to streamline government which has an unsustainable rate of spending," said Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-12th).

But the tax cut would also mean the certain end of in-patient care at both Oak Forest Hospital and Provident Hospital, according to Stroger. That would result from an estimated $75 million dollar health care budget cut and up to 1,300 layoffs by 2011.

"We will put a tremendous hit on our health care system," said Stroger.

Commissioner Deborah Sims, who voted for a tax rollback earlier this year, then switched sides to support a Stroger veto, said, "If there's a pandemic and we have no people in the hospitals, no nurses and no doctors, what are we going to do?

"We're gonna see a county government that's going to hell," Sims said.

If the latest plan to roll back the county sales tax is successful, here is how much you would save: for every $100 you spend, you would safe 50 cents.

Or put differently, if you spend $5 per day eating a bagel and a cup of coffee before work, that can add up to $6.50 a year. A big-ticket item like a $2,000 couch will save you $10. Buying a new car for $20,000 would save you $100.

CBS 2's Susan Carlson contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Editor's Picks

• Top 10 Smartest And Dumbest Dog Breeds
• World's Most Useless Facts
• Hollywood's Hottest New Starlets
• Who Is My Celebrity Parent?
• Short Subjects: Hollywood's Tiny Stars