Tired of paying taxes? How about one more just for us.
The Chicago City Council warmed to the idea of a one percent income tax on commuters who live in the suburbs and work in Chicago. The tax was one suggestion how to impose a $300 million tax levy on suburbanites only. Toll gates on Lake Shore Drive were ruled out. But the idea of taxing suburban residents is gaining more strength in the council as it looks to raise new revenues for Chicago.
This issue opens a whole can of worms in regard to fairness, and opens the doors for Naperville and other suburbs to impose retaliatory taxes.How to figure just who would pay the tax isn't clear. If it goes through should a tax on Chicagoans who work in DuPage and other counties be next?
New tax on Napervillians...and others?
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Hey Anonymous,
Your pop up crap hijack is equally annoying.
Learn how to turn off pop-ups or download a different browser that lets you control what you want to see on your own screen.
If you are getting pop-ups from the Sun you are getting them from a ton of other places. Either learn to live with 'em or learn how to control 'em. It's all up to you.
Why don't we make Chicago its Own state and leave the rest of Illinois alone? The city of Chicago is nothing but a huge drain on the rest of the state.
Hey Nap Sun, your POP UP CRAP is extremely annoying, I know you probably need $$$ but its not worth coming on this site with all this nonsense...
New York city has such a tax that applies to those who spend more than 60% of their work time in the city. My husband stated that the branch of his company in NYC has many employees who work from home and come into the office there for meetings only, less than 60% of their time. He said if a similar stipulation was made here, you wold see the same thing happening. Nowadays it is very easy to work from home. The city would find restaurants in the loop would suffer since their clientele would shrink. (Many restaurants in the loop are open only during business hours.) Metra would suffer due to less riders. The fallout could be much more than they anticipate.
I say let Chicago do it. Bring on the tax and see yet more jobs flee the city for the 'burbs.
What sane employer would stay in the city with this type of business climate? What sane employer would add/fill positions with this type of "business-friendly" political party in office? And we wonder why there's not more hiring....
Central to the heart of this issue is the fundamental question of who can levy an income tax under present law and/or if a a legislative solution would be needed first.
IF the City of Chicago is able to institute an city income tax it would have to be applied equally to everyone working within the City of Chicago. There is no legal way the City of Chicago could ever single out those who live elsewhere and just tax. non-city residents. That would definitely be unconstitutional. Regardless, any attempt to levy a City of Chicago income tax will most likely result in a court challenge. Smacks of unfair taxation without representation if nothing else.
Let's make sure everyone is aware the City of Chicago has levied a "head tax" for years on employers which was supposed to compensate the City for all of the same expenses they mentioned in trying to justify the need for an income tax.
What is particularly galling is the amount of state and federal support for the City of Chicago while the city doesn't levy property taxes, school taxes or even utility bills at anywhere near the same level found in other communities in Cook County or in the collar counties.
As but one example, anyone getting "city water" is paying a huge premium over what the City of Chicago charges city residents for the same amount of water. If that isn't bad enough those of us outside the city also have restrictions and the threat of fines on when we can use water while the city doesn't and there are tens of thousands of houses in Chicago that don't even have water meters and they just receive the same small, flat bill month after month. Anyone paying Naperville water rates would be shocked at how small of a bill those living in Chicago receive on average and would be totally mad if they knew the flat rate billing amount.
Bottom line, this is just one example of how non-city residents have long been subsidizing City of Chicago expenses. And now they expect us to pay for even more? Clearly the arrogance at city hall isn't any less with the new regime!
Maybe, just maybe, if City of Chicago residents had a little personal dignity and community pride they would start paying their own fair share to support their own city and schools and they would stop expecting everyone but themselves to pay for it.