Anti-business: Chicago alderman wants to charge suburbanites $200 annually to work in city

Michigan Avenue

A Chicago alderman--a Democrat, of course--wants to charge suburbanites who work in Chicago $200 per year. Of course, these workers never eat lunch while they are in the city, they never shop there, and they never fix their cars there.

From CBS 2 Chicago:

Ald. George Cardenas (12th) proposes that commuters begin paying $200 annually. That way, he says, they would help pick up the tab for streets and rail lines that they use.

"It's a non-resident's fee," he says.

The revenue would help plug a 2016 budget hole he estimates at $800 million. He says it could add $200 million to help fund police response, street repair and traffic control.

The $200 fee would be collected from workers through their employers. If workers refuse, the fee would be paid by the employer.

Cardenas is giving businesses another reason to move to the suburbs.

Oh, if these employees work for the public sector, does the government pay the $200 fee?