Ready for an 11% sales tax?

You'd better be, because a Cook County commissioner wants to raise the county sales tax by 2 percentage points. That means the total tax in the city would increase from an already-stifling 9% to an unholy 11%. Yes, that's right. And remember, that includes suburbs like Schaumburg who would get the increase (but they don't have a city sales tax like Chicago, so the overall tax will be slightly lower). If the new sales tax passes, at least we will be able to make big purchases in nearby west suburban DuPage County (6.75%) or Indiana (6%).

But what are we paying for? Among other things:

A zoo.

A botanic garden.

A veterans' assistance commission.

A law library.

A judicial advisory council. (That sounds more impressive than it is; they don't do anything.)

A commission on women's issues.

And of course, worst and most wasteful of all, the hospital system.

I've blogged about the hospital system's ridiculously generous benefits before, but today brings another story. Something tells me that a good way to cut spending is to stop giving away things to everyone who shows up and at least limit it to actual county residents (as though we don't have to piss away enough on them, especially all of the illegals turning the city in North Mexico).

I find it fascinating that whenever there is a deficit, the first idea in the heads of those in charge of the city and county governments is to increase taxes. It's never to cut spending because our taxes are already too high. The city is bad enough, as the city council is spilt between liberals with some common sense and leftists with none. I would have expected more from the county, however, since there are plenty of suburban voters to bring some accountability to the commission.

Last year, Forrest Claypool (a reform-minded cutter of taxes and spending) barely lost to Todd Stroger (not as bad as his dad, but still pretty bad) in the Democratic primary mainly due to a wave of black support. (As a conservative, I didn't vote in the Democratic primary, though I did consider it.) Claypool would have given the county government a kick in ass to change their ways. Instead, it's still just the same old thing.

Whether one agrees with my views or not, I suspect that county residents should become more involved in following the actions of the county government. It's easy to ignore it and focus on city and state races, but the fact is the county has a bloated and corrupt government that spends too much money and performs too many functions for its own good.

UPDATE: It's not just Chicago. Michigan has the worst state economy in the nation, yet what does the government want to do to make up a budget deficit? Take a guess.