Chicago Tribune Editorial Day after day, Cook County Board members who voted to raise the sales tax awaken to more headaches that will keep their dereliction of duty right where it belongs: in the forefront of furious voters' minds. Last week Fitch Ratings, an influential national firm, changed its outlook for some $3 billion in Cook County debt from "stable" to "negative." That could portend a downgrading of the county's bond rating, which would raise taxpayers' cost to service that debt. Here's a key Fitch sentence: "With the highest sales tax rate in the nation, the county faces political and economic pressure to provide tax relief for county residents." Political and economic pressure. That's you, Taxpayer—if you choose to demand repeal of this full-percentage-point increase. This week, County Board member Tony Peraica intends to finish
drafting a resolution to do just that. Other board opponents
of the hike, notably Michael Quigley and Forrest Claypool, likely
will join as co-sponsors. But Cook County citizens are angry about this tax hike to support such an arrogant and mismanaged government. They should exert tremendous pressure through phone calls, e-mails and questions during public appearances—especially on four of the nine board members who voted to raise the tax. They are, politically, the most vulnerable: William Beavers (who represents parts of the South Side and south suburbs), EarleanCollins (West Side and western suburbs), Joan Patricia Murphy (south suburbs) and Larry Suffredin (north suburbs). What they have done to their tax-ravaged constituents, including the retailers they've put at a tremendous competitive disadvantage to businesses in other counties, shouldn't go unanswered. Not that these four are any more derelict than the five politically more secure board members who voted with them: Jerry "Iceman" Butler, John Daley, Joseph Mario Moreno, Deborah Sims and Robert Steele. All nine board members who voted for the tax increase—and, surely, Todd Stroger—can protest that repealing the tax in midyear would be just too, too disruptive to county government. That whining might sound sensible, but in truth it'll be utter hogwash. Here's why: Peraica rightly notes that a budget is a blueprint based on anticipated revenues and expenditures; if unexpected conditions arise—including a tax repeal—county officials simply would have to reduce the cost of their bloated workforce and their costly contracts with cronies and campaign contributors. To which hard-pressed citizens would respond: "Tough. Do it." Peraica also stresses that the county is slated to get only a small slice of this new, $426 million sales tax confiscation in the fiscal year that ends Nov. 30. What's important is to kill this tax now, before Stroger and Co. eagerly build all of that unnecessary revenue into a business-as-usual budget for 2009. No, we're not banking on this repeal effort to succeed in killing the tax hike that Stroger demanded, and that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley subsequently blessed. Yes, Peraica is a Republican candidate for state's attorney; count on county Democrats to deride his tax repeal effort as a campaign stunt—although that smear won't sell if he has Democratic co-sponsors. We do, though, bank on this repeal effort to encourage citizens and business groups to recruit and finance challengers for every politician who engineered this tax increase. Like the shot across Cook County's sinking bow from the folks at Fitch Ratings, the effort to lower the sales tax will keep the 5 million-plus citizens of Cook County focused on this board's decision to ratchet up revenues rather than halt the county's runaway spending and studied inefficiency. This powerful issue, these furious citizens, will not go away. |
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