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Sales Tax Hike Could Fund CTA, Road Improvements

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Aug 28, 2007 7:00 pm US/Central

Sales Tax Hike Could Fund CTA, Road Improvements

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by Mike Flannery
CHICAGO (CBS) ― The mass transit system in Illinois is looking for major money, and some lawmakers are offering hundreds of millions of dollars for suburban roads, as well as buses and trains. Taxpayers would foot the bill, with an increase in the sales tax.

As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, that highway money is designed to make the proposal attractive to enough suburban legislators to pass the sales tax increase with a veto-proof super-majority, because Governor Rod Blagojevich is threatening to veto the whole thing.

Chicago Transit Authority drivers were among those cheering the loudest as politicians promised to vote next week on a proposed sales tax increase for roads and mass transit. Those drivers received letters threatening that their jobs could be eliminated next month.

"Yes, I'm very afraid of getting laid off," said bus driver Calvin Alexander.

"You lay us off, then it means we can't provide for our families. Then it also messes with the public," said CTA bus driver Gail Williams.

"This is a good, sound piece of legislation. It should be enacted as soon as possible," said House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago).

Madigan and others at the rally said the House would vote next Tuesday on a proposed two-tier sales tax increase. In Cook County that would amount to 0.25 percent for mass transit; in the five collar counties, 0.50 percent, half for transit and half for roads.

Suburban leaders at the rally said some of the area's worst traffic congestion could be improved with the $120 million a year that the new sales tax would generate for highways.

"Obviously, there are roads in Kane County that's in desperate needs of repair and expansion," said Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke.

"We are two weeks away from a very real deadline, and we will see a shutdown of the mass transit system if the legislature does not act," said Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston).

Backers in the House face a big obstacle; they may need 10 or more Republican votes to get a majority big enough to override the governor's threatened veto. But a spokesman for House Republican Leader Tom Cross told CBS 2 Cross is working to persuade Republicans to vote, "no."

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

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