More on Stroger's Sales Tax Rollback

By Kevin Robinson in News on Apr 16, 2009 2:00PM

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger officially asked county commissioners to reduce the county sales tax by a quarter of a percent Wednesday, although he couldn't give any hard numbers about why the reduction was possible, or where the funding to replace it would come from. He told the press that the lack of "hard numbers" was because the county was still in talks with the federal government. He expects that federal recovery act funds will help close the gap on county services. Stroger persuaded county commissioners to raise the sales tax by one percent last year, saying that county services would be severely cut without the drastic hike.

Not one to miss the opportunity to take a swing at Stroger, Tony Peraica, who ran against the Toddler in 2006 for Board President, criticized the tax cut as a ploy to pacify outraged voters before next year's county elections. Nevertheless Peraica, who would like to see the entire tax hike eliminated and the county payroll drastically reduced, said he supports the cut. "Any tax cut is a good thing in my mind," he told the Tribune. County commissioner and Todd Stroger puppetmaster Bill Beavers tried to explain away the tax increase with an outrageous statement designed to stoke racial fear. "People are screaming, but they don't realize that the money went to the county hospitals," Beavers said. "People on the North Side think it's all poor black people going to those hospitals. There are more white people that use those hospitals. They don't seem to understand and that's why they don't want to pay."

4th Ward Alderman and possible Stroger challenger Toni Preckwinkle also called out Stroger for what she sees as a cynical political ploy. “Other than the fact that the election is closer, what’s happened in the last month to lead people to believe we no longer have need for the money?” she told the Sun-Times. For his part, Stroger promised that he wouldn't try to reinstate the tax after the election.