Chicago Prepares For double whammy on taxes, transit

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

Sunday night’s thriller against Green Bay is likely to be the last good news that Chicagoans get this week as local government bodies prepare to deliver a one-two punch that may sting worse than any suffered in decades here.


First — barring a Springfield miracle — the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will unveil a proposed 2008 budget that, unlike prior versions, almost certainly will be the real Doomsday thing. Likely to be on the table are as much as a 20% cut in overall service, well more than 1,000 layoffs and another round of fare hikes that would make CTA passenger charges the highest in the country.


Shortly before or after CTA President Ron Huberman takes the stage, Mayor Richard M. Daley on Wednesday will unveil his own heaping helping of woes: service cuts and tax hikes that insiders have warned may include a stunning $100-million hike in the property tax as part of the proposed 2008 city budget.

And the CTA and city shots, of course, come as the Cook County Board considers an increase of 2% in the county’s sales tax proposed by county President Todd Stroger — an action that would make Chicagoans pay an 11% sales tax on just about everything they purchase, easily the

As Glenn Reynolds would say,can you name that party? It 's a party that's controlled Chicago since 1931.