Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Chicago Sun-Times
by Lisa Donovan

Cook County President Todd Stroger wants to roll back a portion of the controversial sales tax increase the county board pushed through last year, a move hailed as keeping a promise to taxpayers and criticized as a political chess maneuver leading up to the 2010 elections.

His proposal is to reduce the county portion of the sales tax from 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent, taking Chicago’s overall sales tax from its current national high of 10.25 percent to an even 10 percent. That saves taxpayers in Cook County 25 cents for every $100 they spend.

Stroger said a rollback has always been a possibility since the board passed a 1 percent increase last July.

“We stated that if we thought there was a time where we would be able to roll it back or a portion of it, then we would do that — and that time has come upon us,” Stroger said.

Stroger’s move counts on expected federal stimulus dollars, though he couldn’t provide an exact dollar figure for how much money the county expects to receive.

Stroger’s administration has said the 1 percent increase would generate close to $400 million. Cutting that hike by 25 percent would mean the county loses about $100 million in expected revenues.

Commissioners William Beavers and Joan Murphy backed Stroger’s proposal, saying it provides some relief to taxpayers while being fiscally responsible.

Detractors questioned the wisdom of the rollback, considering Stroger had pushed to borrow millions — by issuing bonds — to cover operating costs.

“We didn’t have this federal money two months ago, we didn’t know what we were going to get. We didn’t know if we’d get any money,” Stroger said, responding to the criticism.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who is expected to challenge Stroger in next year’s Democratic primary, branded the tax rollback a desperate attempt by an embattled incumbent to salvage his re-election bid.

“Other than fact that the election is closer, what’s happened in the last month to lead people to believe we no longer have need for the money?” she said.

Preckwinkle questioned Stroger’s judgment in pushing through a 1 percent increase in the first place — apparently more than the county needed — and proposing the 25 percent rollback only after a new county budget was passed.

Stroger’s proposal could be voted on during the May 5 election. If approved, it wouldn’t go in to effect until January. While there seems to be consensus among the commissioners that a rollback is necessary, there are at least two factions saying they want to wipe out last year’s increase altogether.

Commissioner Tony Peraica is proposing to zap the 1 percent sales hike immediately, while a coalition of four commissioners wants to gradually phase out the increase. The group includes Forrest Claypool, Larry Suffredin, Timothy Schneider and Bridget Gainer, sworn in Wednesday to take over for Mike Quigley, who’s heading to Congress.

“We’ve got to take it a step further,” Claypool said of Stroger’s proposal. “We’ve got to go all the way we need to repeal this onerous tax, this unfair tax that people are suffering under in one of the most difficult economies in our lifetime.”