Poking Fun at Democrats, Updated x1

Add comment March 13th, 2008

The House Republicans donned a new accessory today — bright red foam fingers that read, “Dems #1 Tax and Spend.”

Foam fingers are normally reserved for baseball games. But Republicans began Thursday’s House session cheering — or rather jeering — the Democrats on the Cook County Board for increasing taxes again and giving Chicago the dubious honor of having the highest sales tax of any U.S. city.

On March 1, the board raised the county sales tax. Here’s the background:

Among the things Chicago wants to be known for, having the highest total sales taxes of any major city in the nation is probably not one of them.

But that’s what it’s getting after the Cook County Board voted early Saturday to double the county sales tax to 1.75 percent, raising the city’s cumulative rate to 10.25 percent. That compares with rates in New York and Los Angeles that are below 8.5 percent. The next highest rate in the country is in Memphis at 9.25 percent.

The approved increase ends a five-month stalemate over a $3 billion budget in Cook County — but it upset many business leaders.

Just one problem: Their chiding might be a bit misplaced because the county board and the House

Democrats are two separate levels of government, as Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, pointed out.

But as we also know, all politics is connected, especially in Chicago.

Update 1

The Daily Herald wrote a story today about the incident, which was centered around a GOP proposal to createa four-day, tax-free holiday to boost the economy.

The downstate Republican joined others in proposing a “sales tax holiday,” which would coincide with federal economic-stimulus rebates of $600 per person and $300 per child to be handed out to families over Memorial Day weekend. For four days, Illinois consumers could spend that money on items $600 or less without paying a penny in sales taxes.

State Rep. Dave Winters, a Rockford-area Republican, said the consumers would see $40 million in tax relief on estimated sales that weekend alone. Winters also said 15 other states have used sales tax holidays.

If some sort of remedy isn’t found, Republican lawmakers warned some taxpayers would go out of state to buy their goods. Or just might move out altogether.

Photos courtesy of House Republican staff