Chicago Daily Observer

Check out the handy reminder at the Tribune of the people responsible for Cook County sales tax, the highest sales tax in the country.

Just to refresh, these 10 County Board Members voted in the highest tax in the country:

William Beavers

Jerry “Iceman” Butler

Earlean Collins

John Daley

Roberto Maldonado

Joseph Mario Moreno

Joan Patricia Murphy

Deborah Sims

Robert Steele

Larry Suffredin

Tony Peraica proposed rolling back the Cook County sales tax in a July 22 meeting. The vote came to a roll-call and the Cook County board voted 10–7 to maintain the current sales tax, which is the highest sales tax in the United States.

The results are here:

Claypool (D-12th)
Quigley (D-10th)
Peraica (R-16th)
Gorman (R-17th)
Silvestri(R-9th)
Goslin, (R-14th)
Schneider (R-15th)

Collins, (D-1st)
Steele, (D-2nd)
Butler, (D-3rd)
Beavers, (D-4th)
Sims, (D-5th)
Murphy, (D-6th)
Moreno, (D-7th)
Maldonado, (D-8th)
Daley, (D-11th)
Suffredin, (D-13th)

It’s heartening to learn that the U. S. Congress is targeting ministries that it suspects of violating the IRS nonprofit rule. Guess which ones? Trinity United Church of Christ which under Jeremiah Wright cursed America and hustles votes for liberal Democratic candidates? St. Sabina’s under Fr. Michael Pfleger which hits whitey and urges the election of Barack Obama for president? Rev. James Meeks who is both pastor of Salem Baptist church and a Democratic state senator and who regularly mixes political agendas with theological ones?

No. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has launched a probe of six conservative televangelists which, Grassley said, “share the same branch of evangelicism and…promote socially conservative and public policy positions.” Meaning pro-life and anti-homosexual rights.

Last Nov. 6, Grassley, the ranking Republican on Senate Finance, asked for detailed financial information from Paul and Randy White’s Without Walls International Church, Benny Hinn Ministries, Joyce Meyer Ministries, ... Read More...

I took a pleasant drive up to Winnetka with my family yesterday afternoon, stopping by one of my favorite houses, the Harold Ickes Estate, which has been on the market for well over a year now. No open house yesterday, but still a commanding property held long ago by FDR‘s (somewhat power-mad) Secretary of the Interior.

The property is listed for $6 Million, which prompted me to think of the tax implications of high priced real estate vs. the number of Obama signs in the neighboring yards in Winnetka.

Sen. Obama has proposed thwarting some class-angst demon by re-instating the 55% tax on estates valued at $1 Million or over at the time of the owners death. He has voted for the estate tax 3 times, and campaigned against relief calling estate tax relief the “Paris Hilton Tax Break”.

$1 Million does not get you that far in Winnetka, ... Read More...

The Chicago Tribune and the AP’s Martin Crutsinger note a survey result that executives think “turmoil in credit and housing markets will be the most significant threat to growth this year”and that “the next biggest threats to the economy now as the possibility the government will impose higher taxes or raise protectionist barriers to foreign competition.”

Since Crutsinger did not identify who would be raising taxes and trade barriers to cause a recession, Rush Limbaugh did the research for the incumbent media noting:

What party is out there promising to raise taxes? Doesn't matter. Both Hillary and Obama are promising to raise taxes, and when you listen to Obama tell us why, it's not about raising revenue. The whole purpose of the tax code is to raise revenue, to fund government services, blah, blah, blah. We all know this. But not with Obama. To him, the tax code is ... Read More...

From Chicago, it’s the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” brought to you with a little help from Illinois taxpayers.

A measure advancing at the state Capitol could make that a reality this year.

Some Chicago Democrats are pushing to expand a tax break for movie productions filming in Illinois to include talk shows that spend at least $5 million on their productions here.

That would include shows like Oprah’s and Jerry Springer’s that already film here and any other big-budget shows looking to start up or relocate in the Windy City or elsewhere.

Supporters say the goal is to encourage development in a weak economy and bring longer-lasting jobs than temporary film employment.

But critics say Illinois would benefit more from putting that money into other tax credits or key needs such as education funding and infrastructure improvements.

Every once in a while, one really gets what one pays for. And then some. Seriously.

There I was with my Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, and I was drawn to a column about “choice in education” initiative recently defeated in Utah. While rightly lamenting its demise, writer Adam Schaeffer of the CATO Institute in Washington pointed out that there is another effective and saleable way to go about advancing the cause of choice in education. Tax credits. Personal use tax credits for families means one receives a dollar for dollar reduction in one’s state taxes (as opposed to just a tax deduction) for some portion of private K-12 education expenses.

Donation tax credits allow businesses to fund scholarship accounts in low-income areas.

Before my eyes glazed over I noticed that once of those states is Illinois. Who knew? I didn’t.

Sure enough, I called my accountant ... Read More...

Multi-kazillionaire Warren Buffett this week renewed his annual plea for government to soak the middle class. He didn’t put it in quite those words. What he said was that he wanted Congress to raise income taxes on multi-kazillionaires like himself because he isn’t paying his fair share – and he is willing. The left loves to trot out such noble and self-sacrificial-sounding sentiments from the super-rich. But it is not a formula for soaking the rich: it is a formula for soaking the working man – and Warren Buffett knows it. Let me tell you why.
For the truly rich their income is merely their surplus, the fat on the meat of their holdings. Their substance is in their personal property and investment instruments. For the working man his income IS his substance, the only meat he has on his bones. So the proper translation of a plea like ... Read More...

John Tillman, Chairman & CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, a group that makes frequent editorial contributions to the Chicago Daily Observer, will be a guest on WLS-890 tomorrow Wednesday, November 1 at 9AM.

Tillman will speak about the CTA and Illinois Budget with radio host, Jerry Agar.

I have come to the conclusion that the three great engines of the modern American economy are corporate executives, hedge funds and new immigrants. The commonality in these three groups is an aggressive aversion to paying taxes. By unloading the tax burden onto the rest of society, each of these groups has experienced greater economic growth than peer groups. Each has its own methods. Corporate executives shift ordinary income over to capital gains, hedge funds operate in offshore tax havens, and many new immigrants are paid in cash.

All of this is good in a strict economic sense. The Government would just use their tax revenues to purchase more shiny trinkets and buy votes, so tax avoidance makes the economy hum, as we can definitely observe. But there is a question of equity in all this tax avoidance.

After a long conversation with a contractor I know who actually pays ... Read More...

County commissioner’s TIF tiff with Daley in the spotlight

Mayor Daley’s record $108 million property tax hike was bad news in a lot of quarters, but it could actually turn out to be good news for Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley.

Finally, maybe somebody will start listening to him.

“I don’t think the city has any more right to raise property taxes than does the county,” Quigley said Wednesday, and if you’re wondering why anybody should care what a county commissioner has to say about it, hear him out.