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Chicago Sun Dec 06 2009
The Regressive Tax Regime
Fees and consumption taxes like the sales tax are essentially regressive. While those with more money spend more (and thus pay a larger dollar amount in sales taxes), the tax as a transaction is the same no matter how much of a proportion of your wealth it takes away. And fees are the same for everybody. The reliance of local governments on these taxes, and the concurrent shifting of federal tax dollars from cities to states, leaves regressive taxes, disproportionately impacting the working class, as the bedrock of local government funding.
Liquor isn't the only commodity taxed at higher rates from five years ago. In that time, various local governments have imposed a variety of higher taxes, fees and fines, with many increases topping 100 percent, a Chicago Sun-Times review found.
Moreover, most of the increases far outpaced the rate of inflation over the same period: 14.4 percent.
For most, there's no way to dodge these extra expenses. Stop driving to avoid the parking tax and meter hikes? You'll still have to pay more to ride the bus or L.
The sales tax for Chicagoans on everything but groceries went up by more than 17 percent, to 10.25 percent.
