You cannot make this up

Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown gets driven around by a man on her payroll as a systems analyst. This man-servant gets paid $63,000/year.

Via e-mail, a Brown employee said the office employs three people within its Investigations Department that alternate in providing security for Brown. Their other duties include performing investigations into employee complaints, and providing on-site security in the Executive Office and other departments.

Check out the story here.

Cook County financial chief sees need for more money despite sales tax increase

That was the headlines in an article on the Chicago Tribune today. The highly compensated but underappreciated (her words, not mine) Ms. Dunnings (she a Stroger cousin) had the audacity to say that to her supporter at the City Club. Who are these supporters you may ask? The same people who benefit from your increased tax dollars. The same people who vote for these inept politicians.

What else is there left to tax. Our first and second born? Time to take our government back.

Cook County Raises Taxes, hikes pay

The Suntimes broke this story on how the current CFO of Crook County, Donna Dunnings (a Stroger cousin of course) makes nearly $160,000 salary (not to mention the host of benefits). This is a 12% pay hike in times when the County is short on cash, the economy is in a recession, layoffs are rampant.

Her response that she is the "first African-American female CFO" raised the ire of most of Chicago. Also, she is certainly not the first African-American female CFO. I am in the process of getting that list together.

Get Groceries - Pay no Crook County Taxes

Amazon.com sells groceries online as well. Currently, the selection is basic staples, but there are plans to increase the selection. In March, Amazon.com has a special deal where you get $10 off for every $25 you spend (40% discount). This on top of no taxes and FREE shipping. What is there not to like.

Check it out here.

What are these folks thinking

Walmart wanted to build another store within the Chicago City limits. The proposed store site is a former steel mill at the Chatham Marekt on the South Side. The City has decided not to support the Walmart for the same reasons they fought the first one that was eventually built on the city's West Side. You see, the city is backed by political hacks and other nut jobs who are beholden to the (somehow still relevant) unions. These unions are fighting for higher wages and do not want the likes of anti-union Walmart to enter the city. The Walmart that was eventually built in Chicago had, by some estimates, ten thousand people apply for 400 jobs. Apparently, the unions and the politicians do not understand that people want stable jobs that pay a market wage. Given the choice, the politicians have decided to not increase employment in the city. This is explainable since the city and Cook County can raise our taxes to pay for these numb-nut decisions.

A word to those in City Hall. Build a Walmart; increase employment; increase tax revenues; give people who you claim to be helping an avenue to shop for lower priced merchandise.

See link to the Sun Times article here.
See link to the Tribune article here.

From the Austin Weekly News

Arlene Jones, of the Austin Weekly News has been writing about Cook County for a while. She had a very fitting editorial not too long ago which echos my sentiments and those of other residents of Cook County.

Bottom line, and I quote "The only ones who will truly have to pay the new taxes are the poor who don't have a car to travel outside of the county to shop. These are the same folks the Cook County board tries to claim they are helping. But in reality, they have instituted a plan that will, in the long run, hurt the ones who least can afford it. " Amen.



Read her editorial here.

County payroll swells despite Stroger vow

Why would that headline surprise anybody. We all know that these politicians will say one thing, but do another. So, there it is my friends, the hiring of family, friends, and cronies continues at Cook County. You tax dollars at work.

Read the entire Sun Times article here.

Reagan County, IL

Yes, that is correct. The suburbs that want to secede from Cook County are, a little tongue in cheek, naming their new county after the former President. A law is being introduced in Springfield that requires only the vote of the seceding area as opposed to all of the county. So instead of all of Cook County allowing the suburbs to secede, this new proposed law will require that only those getting removed from the old county be able to vote. The proponents of the bill do claim that it does not have a chance of passing.

The new county would be comprised of the following suburbs:

- Barrington
- Maine
- Elk Grove
- Hanover Park
- Schaumburg
- Palatine
- Wheeling

About 750,0000 people.

Petition to Impeach Stroger

There is a petition going around to impeach Todd Stroger. Not sure what the outcome will be or how much sway that will hold, but it is a commendable start. I signed it so let us see what happens.

Here is the link - do your part Citizens of Cook County.

Patronage Report - Do not pay

So here is a funny story. Cook County hired a retired Cook County Circuit Judge Julia Nowicki to investigate accusations of patronage etc. in Cook County. To the casual observer, this may come as a surprise that this sort of behavior is happening in Cook County. The total tab for the report, $2,000,000. That is right, $2 million to tell those clowns what most of us already know.

The President of Crook County and his allies did not like the report (they have not even read it completely), so they proposed to withhold payment for the report. Commisioner Jerry Butler was one individual who proposed withholding payment and said "tell us why she (the Judge) wrote the report she wrote" and only then will they decide on what to do with the payments.

But wait, Todd Stroger refused to read the report, instead relying on the abbreviated version in the newspaper. "I can read the newspaper," he said defiantly. "I got a good education."

$2 million of tax payer money - a great paper weight.

For copy of the report, click here.

Another Tax hits Chicago

This is amazing, this is truly amazing. Who are these alderman and how on god's great world, do these clowns get elected. The Chicago city council voted to increase the transfer tax (while selling property) last year. Now they switch the tax by saying that the seller should pay it and not the buyer as original envisioned. As a reference, the increase in tax is 3% on every $1,000 of value. This is on top of what the buyer pays which is 7.5% on every $1,000 of value

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th) was quoted by the Trib as saying "prices have appreciated so greatly over the last few years I am really not going to cry too much for the sellers". So how greatly has Chicago prices increased Mr. Stone. I will be sending his office an email and expecting no reply of course. But if he does reply, I will post it here.

P.S. Chicago property prices have usually followed the rate of inflation. If you have data on the contrary, please provide.

Grim News

Did you know that Illinois has one of the largest deficits of any state in the nation. It currently runs at over $4 Billion. Over the past 5 years, Illinois has lost 63,000 manufacturing jobs and it ranks 45th in the nation in job growth.

To add injury to insult, the State of Illinois is now debating, yes you guessed it, a tax increase. Apparently, the Crook County method works downstate as well. Now picture this, 2 tax increases in Cook County, increase in taxes in Chicago, and maybe an increase in State taxes.

This comes on the cusp of our economy going into a recession and Illinois becoming another 3rd rate state. It is time to end this tax and spend madness. A message needs to be send to these corrupt politicians who care about no one but themselves. We will be closely following the tax happenings down state as well, and will report to you as information becomes available.

Better Buy at Best Buy

Here is another way to arbitrage the disparate tax rates across the state.

1. Make a purchase on line at Best Buy (or another bricks and mortar retailer which permits picking up in store) and chose the "Store Pick-up" option. This option allows the buyer to pick up the merchandise at the store (i.e., buy online, pick-up in store).

2. For store pick-up select a store in a lower taxed county (i.e, McHenry, Dupage). Say Best Buy in Downers Grove.

3. Pay for the transaction on line using the lower tax rate in Downers Grove.

4. Call up customer service and say that you cannot pick-up the product at that location but can pick it up at the Best Buy on North Avenue in Chicago. They will transfer the order and presto, tax arbitrage.

Of course, there are other ways to tweak this. For example, some stores may be out of a certain product. Pick these stores and have the item shipped to you when it is available. Then call up Best Buy and say that you want an in store pick-up since you want the item right now. They will transfer the order over to the store which has the item and you go pick it up, minus the high Chicago tax. Or just show up at the Chicago Best Buy with your prepaid online purchase (from the Downers Grove store) and act dumb saying I thought this was the store I was supposed to pick up my order. More often than not, they will oblige and give you the product.

Another post worth reading

I came across another post that was well analyzed by its author. The blog is called The Glittering Eye. I especially like the analysis done on the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability report. The basic premise is that in order to plug the gaping deficit in Cook County, the sales tax hike is the only solution. The assumption is that the increase in sales tax will provide was the additional $500MM or so that the county needs. Of course, it does not take into account the fact that people may not buy in Cook County to the extent they were in the past.

As a basis for comparison, it would be interesting to see how much revenue Cook County has collected over the years. I would imagine, this amount has been decreasing. If you have stats on this, please provide. Also, the economy is slowing down, payroll are decreasing, businesses are leaving or cutting back. Where is the growth in Cook County or Chicago going to come from? The largest coup the city claimed was when Boeing moved to Chicago. Boeing moved about 100 new jobs in Chicago, the same time Andersen lost 5000+ jobs.

WSJ Editors have Opined on the Cook County Tax

Love them or hate them, call them what you will. The editors of the Wall Street Journal has spoken and written on the dubious distinction that Chicago now holds for having the highest sales tax in the nation.

Read the editorial here.

Innovative way to arbitrage Cell Phone Taxes

Scott Woolley, a columnist for Forbes magazine once stated, and I quote: "Cell phones have not been proven to cause cancer, so why exactly are they taxed like they do?". The point Mr. Woolley was making in his column, "How To Duck Cell Phone Taxes" that cell phone services are taxed at an incredible rate. The state, the city, the feds, the county all have their fingers in the tax pie. According to the article, Illinois has the 4th highest taxes on cell phone services at 21.05% (New York has the highest taxes at $21.7%). For every $100 you pay, the government takes $21!!. I suspect this has increased with the recent passing of the cook county tax.

Mr. Woolley had a great idea. He changed his number to an Idaho number (tax rate of only 2.2%) and then asked for paper-less billing. He continued to live in CA while paying ID taxes on his cell phone service.

Upon some research, different service providers use different methodologies to charge taxes. For example, Verizon will use the area code of your number to determine your state of residency (e.g., if you had a 312 number and you lived in New York, Verizon who charge you taxes as if you lived in IL). Sprint on the other hand, does not do this. They base the taxes off of you address. So it is possible to change my address to one in Idaho (perhaps a friends place or a hotel) and opt for paper-less billing. I get to retain my telephone number, while saving almost 19% in taxes per month. I have not gone around trying to figure out what AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular and the others do, but if you know, please let us know.

One way to make sure Crook County does not get our money.

Government Bytes

I recently came across a great website which covers tax issues across the nation. They do have pages devoted to the Crook County tax increase.

The blog is called "Government Bytes" and they are the The Official Blog of National Taxpayers Union. I urge you to check them out. Your outrage will continue.

Who voted for the Cook County Tax increase

The Trib, in an editorial stated that several county commissioners who voted for the tax increase "are relying on voter amnesia to block public memory of their successful push for $426 million a year in new taxes." Since the elections are several years away, this may indeed happen. But for posterity, here is a list of commissioners who will be up for reelection one day, and they vote on this issues:

VOTING "YES"
E. Collins (D-Chicago)
R. Steele (D-Chicago)
J. Butler (D-Chicago)
W. Beavers (D-Chicago)
D. Sims (D-Chicago)
J. Murphy (D-Crestwood)
J. Moreno (D-Cicero)
R. Maldonado (D-Chicago)
J. Daley (D-Chicago)
L. Suffredin (D-Evanston)

VOTING "NO"
P. Silvestri (R-Elmwood Park)
M. Quigley (D-Chicago)
F. Claypool (D-Chicago)
G. Goslin (R-Glenview)
T. Schneider (R-Streamwood)
A. Peraica (R-Riverside)
E. Gorman (R-Orland Park)

As a note, Larry Suffredin, who ran unsuccessfully for States Attorney had severally criticized the tax increase while he was running for States Attorney. He lost the primary and then voted for this tax increase. His stated logic, that vital county activities would be shut down had he not cast the deciding vote. I think it is more like showing his true tax and spend colors. These politicians will say whatever it takes to get elected, but they show their spots when re-election is not an issue.

Beating Cook's sales tax

Thus began the title story in today's (March 9, 2008) Chicago Tribune. The story confirms what most of us already knew - raise taxes past a certain threshold, drive people to greener retail pastures, negate the tax increase. In the financial world, they call this arbitrage. The concept is very simple. Two identical goods or products should sell for the same price. Of course we are holding transaction costs standard and making other assumptions. If, as the Trib story explains, a Chicago resident driving to Indiana for work (or leisure) happens to stop at the local Best Buy to purchase a computer, Cook County does not get that tax revenue. As a caveat, these citizens need to figure out the tax they have avoided by making a purchase in Indiana and send a check to the Revenue department each and every time they make such purchases. My calls to the Revenue department have gone unanswered.



So it is very simple, for large purchases, I would anticipate most people heading across the county or state lines to make these purchases. I also see the incremental business going to the likes of Amazon.com who do not charge taxes in Illinois. Finally, I foresee situations where savvy buyers will figure out a convenient way to exploit the system (examples will follow in subsequent posts).



I conclude with a sobering thought: Chicago is no longer the second city, but it has become the first city on the tax dishonor role.



Sample Sales Tax:
Chicago, IL (10.25%)
Cook County, IL (Average 9%)
Lake County, IL (Average 7%)
Kenosha County, WI (5.5%)

New York (8.375%)
Los Angeles (8.25%)
San Francisco (8.5%)
Houston (8.25%)
Las Vegas (7.125%)


P.S. Why use the moniker Urkel. Simple, Todd Stroger, the Crook County Board President has a remarkable resemblance to the TV character Urkel.