Tax On Trading Stocks Pushed To Raise Revenue
CHICAGO (CBS) -- It would amount to a sales tax on trading stocks and bonds to fund education and other things - the so-called LaSalle Street tax.
It was being pushed by the Chicago Teachers Union at an Illinois General Assembly hearing this afternoon in Chicago.
The hearing, by the way, was on LaSalle Street - at the Bilandic State Office Building.
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Before it started, CTU Recording Secretary Michael Brunson spoke outside about the need for a LaSalle Street tax - also called the Financial Transactions Tax.
"There's too much money flying through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange - untaxed. People talk about shared sacrifice. This is shared sacrifice. Tax that money."
Democratic State Rep. Will Guzzardi of the Northwest Side is one of the few representatives who's officially signed on.
He says he doesn't think the tax would cause traders to leave the city. And he acknowledges that people are already leaving.
"We're losing people because, in my community, folks are scared that their public school isn't going to have any teachers in it next year. Folks are scared that the University of Illinois isn't going to open its doors next year."
