Remind me not to visit Chicago or Cook County on our next trip to the area. Good grief, Charlie Brown! http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/16/sticker-shock-sales-taxes-in-chicago.html I can't imagine what the always-high add-on tourist/visitor hotel taxes will jump up to. We've stayed at hotels on the Magnificent Mile in years past, and some area restaurants were spectacular, but I think those times are past. This tax is atop the gasoline state sales tax, woof! (And you have to pump your own gas...) Best fill up way out of Cook County https://www.illinoispolicy.org/hosed-at-the-pump-illinois-gas-taxes/ How's hope and change working for you now? Wow! PS. The other linked articles highlighted through this piece are also compelling. Have a read.
They look like they're heading the way of Detroit. Look for Hillary to redistribute lots of tax dollars to them, and to also follow their very unsuccessful lead on "gun control" IF she gets in... heaven help us.
Chicago, the third largest city in the country, has had Democrat mayors since 1931. It is also headed into full Detroit-style meltdown, economically and socially. Coincidence?
I just love the way the mayor blames the ever-increasing gang shootings / murders on the fact that guns are still legal for most folks just about everywhere else. He conveniently ignores the fact that most criminals cannot buy guns legally anywhere, and that most criminals obtain their guns via illegal means. And that banning handguns only means that law-abiding citizens are sitting ducks for the criminals who continue to obtain them and keep them illegally.
Well, I think our chief community organizer needs to move back to Chicago and organize things. Maybe he'll take his dude Al to help out. The dynamice duo could teach Emanuel how to budget and chase out the few remaing conservatives. Maybe make flying stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore after dropping off bulldozers in Detroit. Can't make this up. Nuts.
Obama is saying that he thinks he's a pretty good president, and that he thinks he'd win if he could run again, but that he can't. It's been rumored that Valerie Jarrett was behind the leak that started the whole Hillary email controversy. It wouldn't surprise me if we don't see some sort of attempt to get around the 22nd.
I saw that comment from BO too. It does beg the question, "What would he consider a bad president?" IMHO, he's the worst in my life time, though Carter would be a strong contender. For that matter, he is in a strong position to be rated worst ever.
You can´t judge things in a vacuum. They are doing this mainly to lower taxes on residents and offeting it with higher taxes for tourists. A lot of places do similar things. I lived in a city that bragged about 0 property taxes.. but that was because they used a local employment tax. By shifting your taxes away from property taxes onto sales taxes, you are pushing the tax burden more onto people who don´t live ( or vote) in your city. Sure, it looks bad to us seeing a sales tax that high, but the people who actually vote in those areas are getting notices about lower property taxes.
Sorry, petesede, I can't believe Cook County is pushing taxes onto tourists any more than New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles or any other metropolitan area. Tourist taxes are just gravy, paid by people who have no voice in the matter and have no means of changing the system. Look at Las Vegas, Reno, virtually any coastal/shore community. (Yes, some conventions can be moved to less expensive locales, but that us another discussion.) As an aside, one could argue that Chicago is hardly a tourist city in late fall, winter and early spring. Gale force winds off the lake could freeze your bippy.. Urban city taxes in various forms (such as wage and sales) are typically raised for purposes of collecting revenue from suburban residents working in the "big city." Broaden the tax base, increase the revenue. The city politicians justify the increased taxes with the argument that increased city services (fire, police, ambulance et al), serving the non-city residents, must be provided and thusly must be paid for. And so it goes in the largest cities in this country. As an aside, New York City is losing large components, exemplified by the back-office operations of financial firms, of businesses in and Wall Street. Operations are moving to places in Hudson County, NJ, and other locales in the state. (Look where CNBC headquarters are.) Northern NJ is expensive, yes, but property and rents are significantly less than lower Manhattan. And those firms requiring instant communications with Wall Street have an easy microwave shot across the Hudson River and New York Harbor.
Well, whenever you are getting tired of being taxed to death, come on down to Texas. Would love to have you and I can promise that you get an automatic 15% pay raise. On top of that you do not have to mess with the horrible weather in the winter. My company has decided not to do any more tradeshows in Chicago, New York or the West Coast. We are finding that the change of venue saves us money and headache.
