Preckwinkle Drops Bullet Tax Proposal
By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 31, 2012 10:00PM
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is walking back her proposed "violence tax" a bit. The Sun-Times writes Preckwinkle has dropped the nickel-per-bullet portion of the tax. Preckwinkle made the announcement at a morning news conference.
The main problem with the bullet tax is the taxes would cost more than a box of ammo, so she's tabling it until a later time. She is, however, keeping the $25 tax on all firearms sold in Cook County, which is one of the lynchpins of her 2013 budget.
“It was very important to us to tax guns - because we know that guns are the source of incredible violence that we have in our neighborhoods,” Preckwinkle said. “And it’s the proliferation of guns that has made the violence in our neighborhoods so difficult to cope with.”
Preckwinkle proposed the tax as a means of funding the County health care system and to help curb violence, and the loss of revenue expected is like spitting in a hot skillet in the big picture of Preckwinkle's $3 billion budget. Preckwinkle has been working behind the scenes to round up support for her budget among the County Board. She is backing an anti-violence plan proposed by Commissioner John Fritchey to start a "gun court" and use grants to fund non-profits with a proven track record of violence prevention. The plan would cost $2 million.