Chicago Raises Real Estate Tax With 49-0 Vote

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Sell a house or other real estate in Chicago, and the city will take a bite of the proceeds under a measure that won City Council approval Wednesday.

Sellers, who now pay combined real estate transfer taxes of $1.50 per $1,000 of sales price to Cook County and the state, will be required to pay an additional $3 per $1,000 to the city beginning April 1 under the council's action.

The $3 charge originally was to have been imposed on property buyers. But because they already ante $7.50 per $1,000 to the city, Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) proposed that the pain be shared. His measure, endorsed by Mayor Richard Daley, won council approval by a 49-0 vote without debate.

Now that's The Chicago Way,no debate and all those Democrats voting in unison like it's Castro's Cuba.