On Heels Of Sales Tax Hike, Preckwinkle Seeking To Tax Cable TV, Golf, Bowling
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Three months after pushing through a plan to raise sales taxes by a penny on the dollar, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is seeking some more new taxes to balance the budget next year.
Preckwinkle said she wants to extend the county's 3 percent amusement tax to cable TV, and recreational activities like bowling and golf. The city of Chicago already charges a 9 percent amusement tax on such things.
Additionally, Preckwinkle is seeking a new county tax on the liquids that fuel electronic cigarettes.
According to budget documents provided by her office, the additional $21.8 million in revenue from those new taxes would help close a $199 million budget shortfall for 2016.
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Preckwinkle says the county has reduced its spending: cutting personnel costs, healthcare costs and by operating more efficiently, but she told the Cook County Board that the county must raise revenue.
On the other side of the ledger, Preckwinkle said she expects to cut spending on the city's hospital and health care system by $39 million.
In July, the Cook County Board approved Preckwinkle's plan to increase the county's sales tax levy from .75 percent to 1.75 percent, starting Jan. 1, 2016. When combined with city, state, and mass transit shares, that means Chicago residents would pay a 10.25 percent sales tax rate, the highest in the nation.
At Alsip's Fountain Hills Golf Course, Preckwinkle's description fell on deaf ears. Players were howling, and not at their scores.
"We're going to be doing a lot more golfing in Will County," said Jerry Sherwood. "That's pretty much where we'll be going. I know people buy cigarettes there now as a way to save money on taxes."
"The courses in the Chicago area are already hurting, I mean tremendously," said golfer Steve Stack. "Places are closing."`
At Lawn Lanes, on the city's Southwest Side the senior league was keeping things jumping. But the owner is hopping mad because he's already paying a hefty tax to the city.
It all shakes out like this: a $100 cable TV bill will go up $3,
A $60 round of golf an extra $1.80, and it'll cost 90 cents more for one game of bowling.
"I think we're at a tipping point when we start taxing them for any purchase they make and now we're going to tax them when they relax from the sales tax they pay, by bowling or golfing?" said Cook County Commissioner John Fritchey. "We're not leaving them a lot of escape."
The cable company Comcast issued a statement in response to the tax plan saying, "Comcast appreciates Cook County's efforts to create a responsible budget, but this increase could make it harder for many Cook County families to gain access to cable TV services. This latest tax increase, combined with other recent tax and fee increases on cable TV services, would create an average additional burden of about $100 a year for millions of households in the county. That's a huge dollar amount for any family to absorb."
