A new era: Cook County "corruption tax" gone by 2013

This is the dawning of a new era,
Woke up and thought "This ain't exactly heaven".
The Specials, "(Dawning of a) New Era," 1980.

In 2006, Illinois senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin enthusiastically endorsed machine hack Todd Stroger for Cook County Board president, calling him a "good progressive Democrat" who would lead us "into a new era of Cook County government." What he did was add more layabouts and ward heelers onto the county payroll--and to pay for it, he raised the county portion of the sales tax by one percent, forcing me to suffer a 10 percent sales tax--the highest in the nation. Except for Chicago, which is also in Cook, they paid even more, 10.25 percent.

This ain't exactly heaven.

About that new era: The chief financial officer of Cook County was Donna Dunnings, his first cousin. He fired her after news reports that she twice bailed out a former bus boy, whom he hired. Eventually the bus boy was making $61,000 a year.

The new tax was dubbed the "corruption tax." Late in 2009, with a primary election staring at them in the face, county commissioners voted to cut the tax in half--overriding a Stroger veto. As for the hack, Stroger was trounced in the 2010 Democratic primary, former Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, also a Democrat, ran on repealing the rest of the corruption tax and she prevailed in the general election.

She made good on her promise yesterday. Half of the rest of the corruption tax will be gone next year, the rest will vanish in 2013.

Chicagoans will still pay a 9.25 percent sales tax, I'll be at 9 percent. Still pretty high. So when liberal apologists tell me that even after Governor Pat Quinn's 67 percent income tax hike, Illinois' taxes are low, they're not looking at the big picture. Then there is gasoline. Our gas taxes force me to pay near the highest prices in the nation whenever I fuel up.

But the corruption tax will be gone.

It's the dawning of a new era.

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