Ego brought down to Earth – Stroger to seek water district, not county president

Todd Stroger, the one-time state legislator and alderman who will forevermore be remembered for his stint as Cook County Board president and his effort to raise the county portion of the sales tax, will go about thinking to himself that he could have been re-elected to that post – IF ONLY.

STROGER: Water dist., sted of president

Stroger on Facebook this weekend was boasting of the Sunday night campaign event where his nominating petition circulators would gather together the results of their work.

THAT WOULD ALLOW Stroger himself (or more likely some flunk on his behalf) to file the petitions Monday to get him a place on the ballot for county board president come the March 20 Democratic primary.

But instead, Stroger on Monday decided to instead file the nominating petitions he had originally collected to get himself on the ballot for a seat on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Which under typical circumstances could be considered a government post of some significance – one that would allow Stroger to go around thinking of himself as a government official. Rather than a political has-been – which is what he’s been in recent years.

Stroger aides were honest in admitting he was unable to get enough signatures of support to get himself a place on the ballot with just over 8,200 valid signatures of support. There wasn’t enough time, since he only began his county board president talk just over a week ago.

WHEREAS HE HAD been using the past several months to gather signatures for the ballot slot for the water district.

If Stroger had gone ahead and sought the county board president post, there’s a very good chance that his petitions would have had the appearance of a rush job; as in sloppy and flawed.

It happens, particularly since the rules governing the process are so vague that who’s to say what will ultimately be determined to be a flawed signature.

PRECKWINKLE: One less primary challenger

Meaning it would have been likely that some supporter of incumbent Toni Preckwinkle would have filed a challenge to Stroger – and he likely would have suffered the ignominious embarrassment of being kicked off the ballot!

IT’S MORE LIKELY that his water district petitions are more legally sound and less likely to be challenged.

Although it’s always possible that someone motivated by spite will go ahead and challenge Stroger’s water district candidacy on the grounds that he had a hell of a lot of nerve to think he could run against Preckwinkle.

If that line of logic sounds incredibly petty and absurd, keep in mind we’re talking about electoral politics. It’s all about the egos for these people.

Including for Stroger, who probably has some resentment that voters dumped on him for his sales tax initiative that was meant to stabilize the county government finances – but instead caused resentment because the increase in the county portion of the sales tax caused the overall tax in Chicago to exceed 10 percent.

THEN AGAIN, THERE are others for whom Stroger’s real offense was being picked by his father, the late John Stroger, to succeed him as county board president.

Todd may have been a one-time state legislator and alderman, but the people who were somehow willing to accept all the generations of Daleys, Madigans, Cullertons, Lipinskis, etc., who have been a part of the local government scene were somehow unable to accept it when the Stroger family tried to follow suit.

John Stroger must settle for county hospital named in his honor, rather than being a political family like the Daleys

I don’t doubt that a Stroger candidacy for Cook County Board president would have drawn a certain amount of negative energy. He would have been a long-shot to win, regardless of what he thinks about Preckwinkle and her ‘pop tax’ effort to balance the county budget.

Although I wonder if his couple of weeks as a Preckwinkle challenger will merely elevate Todd’s profile to the point where the people who eight years ago chanted “Don’t Vote for the Son” as their mantra will suddenly take an interest in the water district race to ensure he doesn’t win that seat either.

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Did Cook County sales tax hike become political equivalent of Sox/Cubs brawl?

The Cook County Board narrowly voted in favor of President Toni Preckwinkle’s proposal to boost the county’s share of sales taxes, and I couldn’t help but notice the breakdown among how county commissioners voted.




PRECKWINKLE: She got her (or Stroger's) tax hike

All of the African-American and Latino members of the county board supported the idea, along with certain white members who had one thing in common with their non-white colleagues.

THEY WEREN’T FROM the North Side or its surrounding suburbs.

It would seem that Madison Street, the informal dividing line between South and North sides, also applied here. Forget about any support for the increase of the county sales tax from 0.75 percent to 1.75 percent on the North (supposedly more affluent) side of the city.

South of it, it would seem that political people were in line with the thought expressed by Commissioner Stanley Moore, who said that while he doesn’t like a tax increase, he is showing his “faith” in Preckwinkle’s judgment that she’s not guiding the county into a political sinkhole.

It is a potential sinkhole for him, since his county district includes neighborhoods such as South Chicago, the East Side and Hegewisch, along with suburbs such as Calumet City and Lansing that are located directly on the Illinois/Indiana border – where local governments tend to think the sales tax is something meant only for state government to use.

JUST THINK OF how low the Illinois sales tax would be if there weren’t local and county governments staking their own claim to it. Seven percent, to be exact – instead of the 10.25 percent it will be now.

If anyone is likely to feel a direct blow to their political futures for supporting this, it is Moore – who only got onto the county board when he was appointed to replace William Beavers following his indictment and conviction on charges related to his desire to use campaign contributions while gambling at casinos.


MOORE: Will his 'faith' come back to bite him?

I suspect that for Robert Steele (whose mother had a stint as county board president), Jerry “the Iceman” Butler and Deborah Sims, the same faith was a factor, as it would be for Jesus Garcia (how would Rahm have used this against Chuy if the mayoral campaign were still ongoing?) and Luis Arroyo.

As for white commissioners, John Daley of the Bridgeport neighborhood is a political establishment type who likely was consulted before the sales tax hike was even introduced.

WHILE JEFFREY TOBOLSKI of McCook and Joan Patricia Murphy of Crestwood also come from parts of the county that align with the South Side.
 

DALEY: Wound up backing Toni

The only Sout’ Sider, so to speak, who didn’t back Preckwinkle was Elizabeth Gorman of suburban Orland Park, although she was a Republican who had consistently said she would vote against a tax hike – and wound up being the lone abstention on the grounds that she’s quitting her political post next week to take a better-paying job outside of politics. Just like there's always a lone South Sider or two who winds up  going goofy and rooting for the Cubs.

Whereas all the opposition to the tax hike came from the North Side and suburbs.

Even from people like Bridget Gainer and John Fritchey – both of whom are people with urban constituencies that usually think highly of Preckwinkle and her Hyde Park ways. As are Richard Boykin of Oak Park and Larry Suffredin of Evanston.

THEN, THERE ARE the Republicans who naturally would oppose anything that Preckwinkle would put forward – particularly if it was an idea identical to something they dumped all over former County Board President Todd Stroger for.

SCHNEIDER: Voted the party line

Do you know how badly Tim Schneider, who also is Illinois Republican Party chairman these days, would be castigated by his GOP colleagues if he were to back this proposal – no matter how badly the county needs the revenue?

The same likely goes for Peter Silvestri of Elmwood Park, a former mayor, and Gregg Goslin of Glenview, a former legislator. I’m sure some will argue it is a matter of a more affluent North Side not needing to rely on government as much.

Although I’m wondering if it would be easier on all of us to have our South Side vs. North resolved on the ball fields each summer – it certainly would be a lot cheaper on our pocketbooks!

  -30-

EXTRA: Cook County may resume its spot back on top (of the sales tax heap)

A part of me is wondering right about now who’s laughing the loudest – Todd Stroger or William Beavers.

PRECKWINKLE: Now, she wants the tax hike

Both of them surely are saying “told you so” at the thought that Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle let it be known Monday that she’s now pushing for an increase in the county’s share of the sales tax.

CURRENTLY, THE COUNTY charges 0.75 percent of the purchase price as a sales tax. Which when combined with all the other government entities in Cook County and Illinois makes the total sales tax some 9.25 percent.

Preckwinkle says she wants to add another 1 percent to the county’s share, which would bring the total sales tax to 10.25 percent – which would be one of the highest rates anywhere in the nation.

It’s ironic that the county board president is now pushing this issue, because she was the one who during her last term in office went out of her way to repeal a 1 percent sales tax hike that former county board President Stroger imposed.

And which was the primary reason why so many people ganged up on his campaign for re-election in 2010 that he came in fourth in a four-candidate field during the Democratic primary that year.

OF COURSE, SOME people were really upset that Stroger was the son of John Stroger, and they didn’t like the way the elder Stroger orchestrated his succession for his son to the top county board post when his health became so inclement that he had to step down.

Talk of the tax hike was really just their cover.

BEAVERS: How snarky would he be?

Preckwinkle made a priority of gradually knocking down the sales tax hike that Stroger enacted because the tax revenue was needed by county government to fulfill its financial obligations.

Now, she wants that money back. The real question is, Will the bulk of the Cook County Board be just as hard-headed in their opposition to the issue as they were back in the days of Stroger?

OR WILL THE fact that Preckwinkle has much more professional respect in her post than Stroger ever had when he served result in them being willing to accept the need for a revenue increase?

It won’t be just Stroger who thinks “told you so.” Because I can remember so many occasions in which the outspoken Bill Beavers denounced his critics for their tax opposition – always seeing it as a personal slight against Stroger rather than a serious critique about government revenues.

STROGER: Will his tax hike become real?

So many that I honestly lost count, and eventually quit noting them back in the days when I wrote about Cook County government. It got to the point where Stroger NOT criticizing his colleagues was more rare and newsworthy than when he did.

Why would Preckwinkle be willing to move now to repeal something that she previously fought against? Perhaps it is because that with all the different units of government facing financial problems, Preckwinkle wants to stake her claim to an increased share of the sales tax before anybody else can.

OR MAYBE SHE’S just more willing to accept such an increase if she winds up getting the credit for fixing the county’s financial problems.

Although I’m sure the people who are eager to back Gov. Bruce Rauner in his efforts to alter the state’s financial situation will be amongst the most outspoken critics of Preckwinkle for what she is talking about doing now.

I’m also sure it will further bolster the arguments of those people who live near the county’s borders – because they’re going to argue it further makes it cheaper to shop elsewhere. Will County, or perhaps across the state line in Hammond?

Then again, I think anybody who’s willing to go out of their way to waste gasoline so they can save a few cents when they buy gas isn’t going to care about any line of logic that tries to justify the need for additional sales tax revenue.

  -30-

Despite rhetoric we get about Amazon “tax,” it’s really about cheap people

Whenever I read about, or hear, people who view it as their inalienable right to not have to pay taxes when they buy something through Amazon.com, I can’t help but recall one of my high school teachers.

Specifically, a moment when – during some down time in class – she told us about a refrigerator she had just bought that past weekend some three decades ago.

THIS TEACHER LIVED in Indiana, but commuted to her job teaching at a high school based in suburban Cook County.

She specifically bought the refrigerator from a department store on the Illinois side of State Line Road, but then arranged to have it shipped to her Indiana-based home.

As a result, she got out of having to pay any sales tax on the purchase. The way she went on about this, it was clear she often did this to save herself the few bucks that otherwise would have gone toward the tax payment.

I’m not about to describe this teacher as being a “cheapskate.” But let’s be honest; this was a dodge to save some money. There’s no real high-minded, moral principle involved here.

WHICH IS SIMILAR to what I have to say about those people who think it is an affront to all that is decent about society that anybody thinks they could pay a sales tax of sorts for whenever they make an Amazon purchase.

Although for what it’s worth, the degree to which they try to moralize about this issue disgusts me to the point where I will use the word “cheapskate” to describe them.

Which is why I was concerned when the Supreme Court of Illinois last week issued a ruling that struck down the attempt by our General Assembly to have a state Internet sales tax.

As in you’d have to pay something to Illinois if you live here and bought something – regardless of where the physical entity that ultimately provides the object (Amazon itself isn’t a store or a manufacturer or much of anything).

THESE CHEAPSKATES ARE going to try interpreting the state high court’s ruling as some sort of justification for their tightwad ways!

Of course, anybody who actually reads the ruling will see that the state court’s ruling was based on the fact that Congress in recent years passed its own measure that prevents the implementation of state or federal taxes on Internet-based retailers.

It seems the cheapskates have their own supporters in Congress who passed the measure – which is NOT a permanent change in federal law. For it seems the measure is scheduled to expire next year.

It also means that federal law overrides local and state measures (a fact that ticks off the conservative ideologues to no end). Which is why the state Amazon tax is dead. For now!

THERE ARE THOSE who already are speculating that this means once the federal measure expires, the state Amazon tax can take effect again.

Unless our Congress gets into a partisan spat over whether to not to extend their prohibition on taxes so people can continue to order music, video and books on the cheap – although personally, I’ve never seen that much difference in price on the few occasions when I have used Amazon to buy something.

Maybe I’m just buying the wrong items (not exactly the kinds of things that would sell in such mass quantity that Amazon could afford to make them available at a significant discount AND still make itself a profit).

Enough of one, it seems, that its owner, Jeff Bezos, could afford to buy the Washington Post – even if no one has really made it clear what he intends to do with all the assets that come from having an extensive newsgathering team in the nation’s capital.

I’M ACTUALLY INTERESTED in seeing just what stances the Post takes on this issue in the future – although the idea of a publisher using his newspaper to tout his other business interests is such an old-fashioned concept that we certainly shouldn’t be surprised.

But if they start spewing rhetoric about a person’s right not to be overtaxed when they make such purchases?

Let’s not forget that it all comes down to a defense of the cheapskate. Nothing more!

  -30-

Stroger ‘eradication’ more important to county pols than a simple policy

We’re coming up on that time of the year when the Cook County Board has to put together a budget for the upcoming year, and officials seem determined to want to say that they’re erasing the memories of former board President Todd Stroger.

STROGER: The contempt remains

Even if that winds up complicating their best efforts to approve a spending plan for county government that comes close to being balanced.

FOR BOARD PRESIDENT Toni Preckwinkle’s budget director told the City Club of Chicago this week that there may be a combination of fee increases and select tax hikes to raise more money for county government.

But this will come as Preckwinkle is determined to be able to say she erased from the books that increase in the sales tax in Cook County that Stroger pushed for during his time in office to try to balance out the books.

That was the increase that pushed the overall sales tax in Chicago to over 10 percent, and was the continual rallying point for Stroger’s opposition – most of whom were really opposed to him because of the way he got elected and were never willing to forgive him for it.

County officials have been decreasing their share of the sales tax in recent years, and this is the year that the last 0.25 percent of Stroger’s increase is supposed to be removed.

AFTER THIS YEAR, our government officials will be able to boast that they rescinded a tax increase that was incredibly unpopular (not that any tax increase is ever considered desirable).

But it seems that perhaps Stroger and his allies (he does have them, whether you want to believe it or not) were right in thinking that the revenue from that increase was necessary if there is to be a balanced budget for Cook County government.

We may well be in a situation where our county officials do away with a portion of the sales tax so they can claim they’re looking out for our best interests and will have something solid to show for it.

But then we’ll be told the equivalent of not looking too hard behind the curtain, on account of the fact that there may be other tax and fee increases that will get passed to make up for the lost revenue.

EITHER WAY, IT seems we’re going to have to pay. It’s just a matter of which fund our money gets paid into. From our perspective, it all comes out of the same wallet.

Which makes all of this seem like a lot of partisan bumbling that won’t save us anything of significance. Except that those of us whose political hang-ups concerning Stroger will be appeased.

A minor concession, if we still have to pay more.

Although I’ll concede that we don’t know how much more, since county officials are refusing to be specific about what they have in mind. We’ll probably learn for sure what will be done come that date in December when the county board gives its approval to an actual budget.

WE’LL BE KEPT in the dark until then, in all likelihood. I’m not sure that any ding to Stroger’s reputation is worth this trade-off.

Then again, it seems that almost anything is acceptable to people, so long as Todd comes off on the bad end.

Take the legislative election taking place on the West Side, where former state Rep. Derrick Smith (the representative who was expelled from the Illinois House) is the Democrat on the ballot who faces an independent challenger.

That challenger, recruited by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, turns out to be a former chief of staff to Stroger.

WHICH HAS SOME (including Preckwinkle herself) thinking that having a legislator who faces charges of soliciting bribes in U.S. District Court is less embarrassing than backing someone with ties to Stroger.

Either way, the situation comes across as embarrassing to all.

  -30-

RTA lawsuit being turned into battle of ‘Chicago versus small towns’

I’m not sure what to think of the merits of the Regional Transportation Authority’s lawsuit filed against two municipalities on the fringe of the Chicago area.

But the response from those towns (Channahon in Grundy County and Kankakee to the far south) is all too predictable. They want to view this as an incident of Mighty Chicago trying to pick on them.

WHICH IS RIDICULOUS when one realizes that Chicago city government technically has nothing to do with this particular lawsuit – unless you want to adopt the “conspiracy theory” mode that says Chicago is at the heart of everything that is wrong!

So my gut reaction is to think that there might be merit to the lawsuit filed by the RTA – which technically is an entity of Illinois state government. Perhaps the local politicos should be ranting toward Springfield instead of Chicago, although the city did file its own followup lawsuit in support of the RTA late in the day on Tuesday.

The primary lawsuit that got filed says that local governments in Kankakee and Channahon – in their attempts to create tax-incentive programs meant to bring (and keep) businesses within their boundaries – are causing less sales tax revenues to be produced.

Considering that the RTA relies on a share of sales tax revenues to help produce the money that it then assigns to its service boards (the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace) to maintain all those commuter trains and buses, anything that hurts their bottom line has a backlash to be felt across a large area.

THE LAWSUIT FILED in Cook County Circuit Court claims the RTA is losing about $20 million per year, just because those two municipalities are willing to see less taxes charged in order to keep businesses.

There also is the fact that those outer counties have lower tax rates than Cook County, which has led some businesses to relocate their offices to those outer suburbs to get out of having to pay (or charge) the higher tax rate of the city proper.

Which also translates into less money that ultimately flows to the RTA. Although I'm sure they're going to argue (perhaps legitimately) that they have a right to charge less in tax rates (usually because they're offering significantly less in services than large cities do).

Now considering that just about all local governments rely on tax incentives to attract business (playing off of that corporate attitude that seems to believe businesses should not have to pay any taxes), I find it a little greedy for one government to complain that another government’s incentives are hurting them.

BUT THEN AGAIN, there is a certain competitive nature that occurs between municipalities. They’re all trying to attract business, and any one town’s gain goes to the disadvantage of all the communities surrounding them.

So what should we think?

I just have a hard time taking seriously the statement issued by Channahon’s village administrator (the full-time professional who runs the town, with guidance from the part-time mayor and trustees), which tries to make this a ‘Chicago versus us’ type-of-issue.

They claim they were not notified of anything by Chicago or Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Which is true, since it isn’t their lawsuit.

I ALSO GOT my chuckle from the reference to the fact that Channahon’s budget is less than half of 1 percent that of Chicago city government.

If Channahon officials have any legitimate point in their response, it is the fact that the Illinois Department of Revenue ultimately distributes money raised from sales taxes. Perhaps the RTA’s “beef” is really with their fellow state agency?

Which is why those officials are correct when they say they’re following the letter of the law and complying with the state tax code. Then again, the state is merely following the guidelines set by the individual communities when it concerns who gets tax breaks and who does not.

Kankakee officials may have a more telling point. Mayor Nina Epstein told the Associated Press that the businesses her community is able to attract ultimately benefit the entire state of Illinois because those companies – most with single locations – would be located in other states if not for their preference for Kankakee.

WHICH COMES ACROSS as a little more mature than claiming “Mighty Chicago” is picking on us – like we’re hearing from Channahon officials.

Taking the broad approach that benefits us all, rather than focusing on the minutia of municipal matters, is most likely the way to win in the end.

Particularly since this lawsuit is starting out in Chicago-favorable territory of Cook County court – but is destined to wind up in the appeals courts, if not the Supreme Court of Illinois oh so many years from now.

  -30-

News judgment “errors” stealing attention this week from more worthy issues

It is a common question among reporter-types when it comes to news judgment. To what degree should we play down a story because its premise is, for lack of a better word, stupid?

BLAGOJEVICH: Too late to surrender



Some people argue that is an abuse of authority on a reporter’s part, to be making judgment calls that something being said by someone somehow makes no sense. Who are we to judge what is practical and feasible? Just report, and let people realize how stupid someone is being on their own.

NOW A LOT of times when this argument is made these days, it is from conservative ideologues who want to promote a certain idea, and are willing to give their credibility to questionable facts or details that make their cause look good. I have no problem weeding those stories out of my mind. They come off as so tainted that I can’t envision anyone of sense taking them seriously.

But there are other instances where I don’t detect an ideological bias. I just detect a reporter-type person being so lazy that they don’t want to take the time to figure out something being said or proposed makes no sense.

To me, there were two stories that popped up on our local news scene this week that fall into that latter category. The end result being that I believe Rod Blagojevich and Scott Lee Cohen both got far more news coverage than either man deserved.

In the case of our state’s former governor, Blagojevich had a court appearance meant to prepare the scene for his second trial, beginning next month in U.S. District Court. It shouldn’t have amounted to much, except for the fact that Blagojevich has the ability to be absurd at virtually any moment.

HE DIDN’T LET us down this week. His attorneys came up with a legal motion that proposed their client should just be sentenced for the one measly “guilty” verdict that prosecutors were able to get out of the first trial.

No second trial. No more of anything. Just send Blagojevich off to receive his “Oxford education” for a couple of years, and the whole matter will be over. Blagojevich himself is willing to give up the legal fight.

COHEN: New senator? Not likely!



What a compromise! What a deal! To listen to the tone of some news coverage, particularly the broadcast type that is hampered by time constraints (my typical commentary on this site contains about as many words as an entire five-minute radio newscast), this whole issue was going to end soon because Blagojevich himself was on the verge of compromise.

That’s nuts.

WE SHOULD HAVE been ignoring this legal rhetoric big time, because it is not for Blagojevich to say whether federal prosecutors drop the 20 counts they still have pending against him. There is nothing to indicate that prosecutors are in any mood to do anything that could be perceived as showing sympathy for the former governor.

Now because I read some more detailed reports, I understand that the real intent of this offer by Blagojevich’s attorneys is to ensure that they are compensated for their work. They don’t really expect a quickie sentencing for their client.

But I realize many people relied on those quickie headline services, which may well give them the impression that Blagojevich has any say in what happens to him. He doesn’t.

Almost as ridiculous are the reports that have cropped up in the past couple of days saying that Scott Lee Cohen is on the verge of serving in the Illinois Senate. To believe the reports, he will be the replacement picked for now-former state Sen. Rickey Hendon, D-Chicago, who quit last month for health issues and partially in disgust for how irrelevant his influence had become.

NOW I DON’T doubt that Cohen would be interested in the post. It would make relevant again the former Democratic lieutenant governor nominee who became an independent candidate for governor after da Dems dumped him shortly after the primary – after the sordid, sleazy details cropped up concerning his divorce and other women he had been involved with.

Sadly enough for him, the only way he’s ever going to get a political post is by buying it (he had the wealth to overcome the campaigns of the preferred lieutenant governor candidates, and to force Gov. Pat Quinn to pay attention to him during the general election cycle.

There is no way our state’s political establishment voluntarily picks him as a replacement for Hendon – not even if they were anxious for that Near West Side legislative district to have an outspoken lawmaker who would make “Hollywood” look downright meek and timid by comparison,.

Look down to (magnified) corner for Amazon Tax story



So Cohen as a member of the Senate Democratic majority? I doubt it, particularly since I could also see the Legislative Black Caucus causing an uprising of its own if that majority African-American district were handed over to a “white” candidate – albeit one who is as far from a WASP as one can get.



ALL THIS ATTENTION paid to Blagojevich and Cohen makes me wonder what stories got downplayed as a result (there is limited airtime and/or space)? I can’t help but think that the “Amazon Tax” got short-changed, since much of the coverage I have read centers around the people who want to complain that making Internet-based businesses charge the same sales taxes in Illinois as other businesses is somehow downright un-American.



I realize the reason this change in state law got approved was because of business interests desiring protection from what they perceived as Internet businesses being allowed to operate under different rules.

I can’t help but agree with them. Maybe more attention paid to this issue would make us realize that business is business, and that what these Internet companies have been trying to do is operate under differing rules of their own creation. Why not let all business do the same?

As for those people who now complain that it is our “right” to shop on the Internet so as to avoid paying sales tax, I say that perhaps Blagojevich and Cohen are part of the reason that we don’t just see those people for what they truly are – using sanctimonious rhetoric to cover up the fact that they’re cheap.

  -30-

Tax break a quirk, or a political stunt?

I will be the first to admit that Gov. Pat Quinn’s behavior this past weekend was self-promotional in nature. It’s not like the state government sales tax break saves individuals all that much money.

Yet I can’t help but think that the people who are going out of their way to bash The Mighty Quinn these days have their own self-interest – one that the bulk of us would be best off ignoring.

AT STAKE IS the tax break that began Friday and that will run all this week through Sunday. People purchasing items costing under $100 will only be taxed for the share that the city and county charge – along with any other special fees that might apply to a certain community.

Considering that half of the sales tax currently charged in Chicago is the state’s share, it is significant. We’re talking a five-cent savings for every one dollar of the price of the item. Personally, I got a perk when I did some shopping on Saturday.

The two shirts and pair of shoes would have cost me an extra $3.77 had I had to pay the state’s share of sales tax. That isn’t the biggest savings in the world. But I’m sure at a time when retail stores are eager to attract every bit of business they can get, they’re willing to promote this potential savings all they can.

For the record, the National Retail Federation says the average family will spend $606.40 this week on items affected by the tax break – which will translate into a $30 savings.

WHICH MEANS I view Quinn’s trips to various retail stores and shopping malls across the state on Friday, Saturday and at the Chicago Teacher Store, 1855 N. Milwaukee Ave., on Sunday as a potential promotional event that could help generate some business for retailers across the state.

It’s a cute gesture. Although some people are determined to bash Quinn for using the state sales tax break for his own self-promotional interests. As though Quinn got the Legislature to approve the tax break just so he could have a series of freebie stunts to promote his gubernatorial campaign.

When stated that way, it just sounds so absurd.

Yet it is the way some people are insisting on viewing this, and not just Republican gubernatorial challenger William Brady.

THE SMALL NEWSPAPERS publications in Moline and Rock Island (the Rock Island Argus – I like their name) went so far as to lead their Quad Cities-area newspapers this weekend with Wasteful savings trip?: Critics claim Quinn’s tax-holiday promotion squandered money.

I guess that’s what Quinn gets for including a trip on Friday to the K-mart store in Moline as a part of his statewide tour. I won’t be the least bit surprised to learn in a couple of months that the Small Newspapers (which also includes the Daily Journal of Kankakee) has chosen to endorse Brady’s campaign for governor.

Of course, other newspapers (including the Chicago Tribune) used the event to justify publishing pictures of local children having items bought for them as they prepare in coming weeks for yet another year of school.

That actually is the way this particular tax break is being billed – as a benefit to those people who need to buy “school supplies” and new clothes for their children. Even though the reality is that it applies to much more – such as the items I bought for myself during a brief shopping trip I made this weekend.

IT ALSO IS why Quinn included stores ranging from major retailers such as Sears and Office Depot to the much-smaller scale Fred’s Hometown Discount Store in Marion or The School Store in Bloomington.

This stunt doesn’t strike me as a stunt so much as one of the perks of incumbency – which is something that Quinn gets just for having had to endure the ordeals of trying to manage Illinois state government finances.

Those are the finances that are so messed up that the parody publication The Onion has published an account of how state government is going into the business of making pornographic films (Little Sluts on the Prairie) in order to raise the kind of money needed to balance the state’s budget.

So for those of you who can’t comprehend the concept of parody, Quinn never really said (in part), “no one’s stepped up to fund Illinois’ special-education programs or infrastructure improvements, so we have to do what we have to do.” Although, it sounds like the kind of line that Quinn might use to justify his latest actions.

WHAT QUINN REALLY did was to make the rounds of retailers this weekend, in hopes that he could help promote sales this coming week – which while giving a hit to the state’s sales tax revenues, does have the potential to bolster actual sales.

Which would make the retailers themselves happy. Perhaps that is the Quinn strategy – get the store owners’ votes come Nov. 2.

-30-

iTax protests to create digital headache

There are those who are trying to push the idea that history occurred Wednesday with the tens of thousands of people who showed up outside the Statehouse in Springpatch to express their support for the Pat Quinn-proposed budget balancing plans that include significant tax increases.

I don’t buy it, because I know better. I am very aware of how scripted Statehouse rallies can be. The real tax fight that we should pay attention to may be one that is already taking place. It is the one that people who use the Internet to do their shopping will fight – because they are going to claim that one of their “God-given rights” (I always wondered if their “God” was Bill Gates) is being threatened.

I AM WRITING, of course, about the report in the Chicago Sun-Times that got picked up Wednesday by countless media outlets – one that says the state wants to start applying their sales tax to every single time some kid spends $0.99 on iTunes to buy a song that he then downloads to his iPod.

At the state’s current tax rate, that is about $0.05 per song. But those nickels add up.

They will pile up even quicker for those people who purchase downloads of movies that they can then watch on their computer.

The simple fact is that all those purchases of entertainment by people who prefer to purchase content for whatever electronic device they carry around with them instead of purchasing a physical disc that can be watched over and over and on multiple players (a compact disc or DVD) are going untaxed these days.

THE COMPANIES THAT are selling these downloads contend they are not local companies that should have to worry about parochial taxes. And I’m sure they will argue that it is too complex for them to have to apply the tax rate of every single state or nation around Planet Earth to which they sell their “product.”

What I do know is that the people who prefer buying their entertainment this way consider the lack of taxation to be one of the perks of this method of purchase.

So in the same way that some people think that newsgathering organizations are absurd for thinking that they should be able to charge any kind of fee for access to their websites (“information should be free!,” they will self-righteously argue), they’re going to claim that “taxation” of their downloads of the latest Lady Gaga song or dull-witted Will Ferrell film (although I must admit to enjoying his performance in “Anchorman”) is immoral.

Perhaps the Tea Party types can recruit more members enraged at government for daring to think that a music purchase can be taxed. At least some Republican legislators are going around saying that kids will revolt, and perhaps get their parents to vote against the political people who tried to impose this dastardly deed (heavy sarcasm most definitely intended) of a tax.

NOW I AM not a big fan of taxation (especially after having to compute my tax returns and figure out how much I owe to the government off of my erratic income as a freelance writer). But it is one of those obligations we have to help support our society.

Which is why I think these people are not showing us some legitimate moral cause. They’re just being cheap – like those people who come up with long, convoluted reasonings why they won’t tip the waitress, instead of just reaching into their wallets and coughing up a buck for the woman who busted her butt while serving them a cup of coffee.

I don’t really have a problem with the concept that buying a song off a compact disc is the same as buying one off a digital download, even though officials with TechAmerica Midwest told the Sun-Times they think that an Illinois tax on downloads would inadvertently hurt sales, which would wind up with less-than-anticipated revenues from such a tax.

I might have an easier time buying that line of logic if it weren’t for the fact that Indiana and Wisconsin already have imposed such a tax, as have 17 other states.

SO THE REALITY is that Illinois, instead of somehow threatening to take away the right to untaxed music that these kids think they have, is really lagging behind.

What gives Gov. Quinn?

Why wasn’t this idea looked into before now – a time when our state’s financial problems threaten not only its own operations but those of all the local governments and school districts across the state that rely on state funding to help pay for some of their operations and programs.

I can’t help but think of people who get worked up over this tax as being cheap and ridiculous.

WHEN THEY START flooding Quinn’s office with their e-mails and text messages (probably more of the latter), I’m wondering how outrageous the digital rhetoric will be.

Then again, with the fact that most of the kids who insist on using these as their primary methods of communication can’t spell worth squat, my real question will be whether any of these “complaints” will be at all comprehendable.

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It’s all about Election Day, nothing more

It doesn’t matter whether Todd Stroger prevails in his attempt to keep in place an increase in the sales tax that Cook County government approved just over a year ago.

This is an issue that ultimately will be decided by the courts, and it is one whose primary purpose is to keep the issue of taxes in the minds of voters on that day in early February when they walk into the voter booth (although these days, it’s more like standing out in the open near a voting machine) to cast ballots for the office of county board president.

BECAUSE THE COUNTY officials were unable to resolve this issue by the end of September, it became a done deal that the increase in the county’s portion of the sales tax would remain in place for the rest of this fiscal year.

As things stand now, even if the political maneuvers are completed next month, that tax would not decline one bit until the middle of 2010 (July 1, to be exact).

So for those of you who are deluded enough to think that politicians are somehow trying to make for a merrier Christmas shopping season, forget it.

This is all about taking a vote sometime in December, so that on Feb. 2 the issue will be on the minds of voters (reinforced, of course, by many campaign advertisements that will air on television and radio between now and Election Day).

THE PEOPLE WHO want to view Stroger as the spawn of Satan (instead of John Stroger) will want to appear heroic for taking an action that will drop the sales tax from 10.25 percent (in Chicago proper) down to 9.75 percent (which is still one of the highest sales taxes in the nation).

Stroger will make himself appear to be heroic by standing up for the medical needs of the county’s lower-income portion of the population. He claims every single penny already being collected by the county is needed to maintain the county hospitals (one of which is named for his father) and health clinics.

All of the posturing that took place in recent months that came up again earlier this week when the Cook County Board held a special meeting to once again pursue this issue is about electoral politics.

That is why I became disgusted a long time ago with this whole issue. There are no “good guys” in this debate – even though everyone is anxious to portray themselves in such a manner.

THE FACT THAT one side in this partisan debate managed to get the General Assembly to pass new laws to make it easier for them to override a veto by Stroger makes me only wonder why state officials were so eager to get themselves involved in someone else’s political scrap.

If the state were serious about wanting to help bolster sales, perhaps they’d consider decreasing their share of the sales tax (since about three-fifths of that 10.25 percent sales tax goes to the state). But I would guess that state officials would claim they need every penny they can get their hands on these days – similar, in fact, to the rhetoric being used these days by Todd Stroger.

So what happens now?

With that state law change made last month, the Stroger critics are confident they will finally be able to prevail in the war of political procedures.

THEY VOTED 13-5 earlier this week to lower the county’s portion of the sales tax, and after Stroger vetoes the decrease, they probably will be able to keep at least 11 members of the county board in line to override the veto.

So the Stroger critics win? Only until Stroger follows through on his threat made this week to drag this issue into court, claiming that any change in state law cannot take effect until the new term of the county board (which would mean until the end of next year).

It is a novel argument. It may be legitimate (I’m not enough of a legal expert to be sure). Ultimately, it will be up to a judge somewhere to make the call on whether the effort being made in coming weeks to overturn the sales tax hike that Stroger sought last year is constitutional.

Even that will be subject to appeals.

SO EVEN THOUGH the people who are getting all worked up over the sales tax issue these days are only concerned about the Election Day factor (and not one day longer), this could very well wind up becoming an issue that will be resolved someday by the Illinois Supreme Court.

If it turns out that the tax remains in place until that day, we could be paying that 10.25 percent on our Chicago purchases for quite some time.

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