It Might Just Take an Act of Congress

By Kevin Robinson in News on Oct 15, 2009 4:00PM

The Cook County Board of Commissioners has tried, and failed, several times to roll back the 10.25 percent county-wide sales tax. Yesterday, the Illinois General Assembly took a swing at it, as well. The legislation, which would have cut the sales tax from 1.75 percent to .75 percent, fell six votes short of passage. "This is going to really devastate all aspects of our government," Todd Stroger, who personally went to Springfield to lobby for the tax hike told the Tribune . "I'm trying to make the case for the county."

However, the House did approve a measure that reduces the number of votes that are needed to override a veto by the board president, from 14 votes to 11. That measure now goes to the Senate, where the Senate Executive Committee voted 9-0 to send the bill to the full Senate for a vote. While Stroger was pleased that his sales tax wasn't reduced, he wasn't pleased that the number of votes needed to override a veto had been reduced. "I am happy that the Legislature is not trying to take our home-rule authority," Stroger said after the sales-tax vote. "I think it's important that we are able to fund our government the way we have to without the state really changing what we do."

While members of the general assembly were loathe to mandate a tax cut in Cook County, particularly legislators from Chicago, the move to reduce the number of votes needed to override the veto may be a back channel to reigning in Cook County's government. Previous attempts to rollback the tax have been vetoed, and county commissioners haven't been able to muster the 14 votes needed to override it. With Bridget Gainer in Mike Quigley's old seat, and Edwin Reyes in Roberto Maldonado's seat, there should be 12 votes against the tax, enough to withstand a veto. And while Todd Stroger is pleased that the tax hike wasn't taken from him by the general assembly, he's concerned that the reduced veto threshold might be a problem. "In this political atmosphere where everything is about 'How do I get elected,' this is not the time to lower the veto," Stroger told the Tribune.