I researched this article. It is well known in the midwest region of the United States that Chicago IL is one of the highest taxed cities in the area. This is quite an understatement for Todd Stroger head of the Cook County board, approved another one percent increase in Chicago sales taxes making it's final value a staggering 10.25%. This will possibly be followed up with a parking tax. This contractionary policy is supposed to help the area recover from a 234 million dollar deficit with expected revenues as high as 400 million dollars! This is a great example of why economic recession can be so difficult because in the effort to decrease the deficit by raising taxes, the demand for goods in downtown Chicago will decrease heavily.
My brother lives in Linkin Park, about a block from Michigan avenue, and has recently turned to online shopping for all his purchases because Chicago tax is so outrageous. It is a strange coarse of action because a majority of Chicago's revenue comes from out-of-town visitors who are looking to experience the Magic Mile. This amount of tourism can decrease drastically with the recent tax change, offsetting the possible decreased recessionary gap. This is worrisome because by Illinois raising taxes the act might sweep across the nation so other markets can compete. As we've seen in class from the Laffer curve is that increasing taxes will give you increased revenue, only to a certain maximum. Not only is it unfair to the Illinois people but even Chicago Chamber of Commerce head, Jerry Roper, states, "the people of our region should be outraged". I see this tax decreasing in the future because like Art said after a while the constant increasing of taxes will become pointless.
No comments:
Post a Comment