Seceding from Cook County's repressive taxation option on five township ballots

Palatine Mayor Rita Mullins, who is leading a growing protest movement against the repressive sales taxes and bloated Cook County Government of County Board President Todd Stroger, was the keynote speaker at a Fight the Taxation Forum held Monday night at the Orland Park Civic Center.

Mullins was joined by National Taxpayer's United President Jim Tobin and by Cook County Commissioner Liz Gorman, who is also the Orland Township Republican Committeeman. The forum, the first in a series to challenge Stroger's represssive and unjustified tax increases, was organized by Radio Chicagoland talk show host Ray Hanania (WJJG 1530 AM Radio, Mon-Fri 8-9:30 am) and was taped and will be broadcast Thursday (April 2) on the morning Show beginning at 8 am.

Palatine Township is one of five townships where voters are considering seceding from Cook County. The others include Barrington, Schaumburg, Elk Grove and Hanover townships. Although it takes much to secede -- a 50 percent plus one vote in each township and a similar majority vote in the county -- the very act of standing up to Stroger's taxation is energizing a fight the taxation movement that is spreading throughout the county.

Mullins, Tobin and Gorman agreed that there is already a quasi-secession taking place in Cook County. Many consumers in Cook County are simply already driving across the county's borders into neighboring counties to purchase big ticket items, a form of de facto secession.

"With my district running from the north to the southwest suburbs in Cook County along the western most border of the county, I am hearing from businesses that customers are chosing to cross over into neighboring counties to purchase big ticket items and that is hurting their business," Gorman said. "Those businesses need our support, not more taxation."

Gorman was one of eight commissioner who opposed Stroger's repressive sales tax hike.

Mullins said that while the likelihood of seceding is challenging, the very act of putting the measures on local ballots has caught the attention of Stroger, whose administration has turned a blind eye to the concerns of many suburban communities and leaders.

In fact, a spokesman for Stroger, who has ignored repeated requests to come on the "Mornings with Ray Hanania" radio show, called to see if a Stroger spokesperson could attend the meeting. Hanania, the show's host, said that Stroger should first come on the radio show and take questions fromt he audience and show that he has the courage to stand up to the concerns of the taxpaying public first.

No one from Stroger's office bothered to attend, which did not surprise the audience nor the speakers.

Also speaking was Orland park Mayor Dan McLaughlin who welcomed the guests to his suburb.

The evening radio forum was taped and will be broadcast on Thursday morning from 8 until 9:30 am on WJJG 1530 AM Radio. I will also have it podcast, possibly before Thursday so you can hear the comments and observations from the guests, Gorman, Mullins and Tobin, and the great questions fromt he audience.

And a special thanks goes out to one of the first professional journalists I met some 32 years ago, Jodi Marneris, whose mention in her column in the Southtown/Star helped get the word out about the forum and pushed the crowd. And thanks goes out to the Palos Regional News also for their ongoing publicity. Also covering the event is the Orland Park Prairie which has the largest circulation in Orland Park and most of the neighboring suburbs. The reporter there was Jamie Lynn Ferguson. Aaaannnnd! We also had FOX 32 News (Channel 12 on Comcast Cable) covering the event that evening and the next morning. Plus WBBM Radiow as there grabbing interviews ... great coverage!

http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

Illinois faces $9 billion budget shortfall -- and it's all Blagojevich's fault. Right!

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his troubles could not have come at a more convenient time. Not for the people and taxpayers of Illinois but for the "pass-the-buck" circus that impersonates responsible elected officials in our state.

Suddenly, everyone is saying the trouble all started because of Blagojevich's corruption. He insisted that the state give senior citizens free CTA passes as a part of a tax increase plan to bailout the mostly Chicago sevices. It costs $30 million a year to do that.

And, he also insisted that the state provide free healthcare to little children whose families are low-moderate incomes and don't have health insurance, something that costs $250 million a year.

So that leaves what, about $8.6 billion in massive spending that Blagojevich had nothing to do with. For example, the billions needed to fund the state pensions, which mainly go to state workers and hacks and relatives of elected officials who double dip into several public service jobs and get full pensions for serving only a few years in public office -- while you and I have to work 20 years just to get maybe 60 percent of our salaries in pensions and have to wait 20 years till he hit 62 to start collecting it all.

Not our selfish, buck-passing elected officials in Illinois.

Jim Tobin of the National Taxpayer's United of Illinois will help us sort through all this tax muck and try to understand where the real pork and waste sits in our post-Blagojevich budget and how much exactly with the acting Gov. Pat Quinn and De facto Gov. Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan will shove down our throats in the coming legislative session. He'll be on our radio show this morning at 8 am on WJJG 1530 AM (also broadcast live on the Internet at www.RadioChicagoland.com).

Increased taxes are coming and even if the economy finds even kilter, the fact is those increases will hang around our devastated taxpayer necks for years to come.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Radio Chicagoland for Thursday Jan. 5, 2009

Jim Tobin of the National TaxPayers United of Illinois discusses the impending tax threat from acting Gov. Pat Quinn. Either Quinn is star struck, a patsy or is a part of the Madigan game plan. House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who controls many members of the legislators with political leashes, will orchestrate one of the largest tax increase packages the state has ever seen -- and boost up the budget of the Illinois Arts Council -- which does what? -- with more millions the state can't afford.

Tobin is on at 8 am on WJJG 1530 AM Radio www.RadioChicagoland.com ... and our program is rocking council and legislative chambers around Chicagoland and the state.

Tune in live on the radio and live on the Internet.

Ray Hanania
www.OrlandParker.com

NTUI calls striking teachers greedy

TAXPAYERS SAY STRIKING TEACHERS GREEDY AND OVERPAID


CHICAGO - The head of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI) today charged that striking teachers in Huntley's Consolidated School District
158 not only do not deserve the pay hikes they are demanding, but that they are already "grossly overpaid." The average base salary in 2007 at District 158 was $50,915 for nine months employment.

"Taxpayer dollars for public school education are claimed to be spent 'for the children.' That's nonsense," said NTUI Chairman Jim Tobin. "The tax dollars are not spent on the children. The money goes into the pockets of overpaid and under worked teachers such as these striking teachers. They show up for work nine out of 12 months a year, and live like royalty on their lofty incomes while enjoying three-month-a-year paid vacations."

The Huntley Education Association has turned down a 17.8 percent pay raise over 3 years. In a time when people are losing their jobs and worried about having enough money to put food on their table, an annual
6 percent raise is grossly over-generous. The teachers are not concerned with teaching children, but rather extracting as many tax dollars as possible.

"Studies have shown little or no correlation between salaries and student achievement, and little or no correlation between academic degrees and student achievement," continued Tobin. "These are worthless arguments for paying higher salaries to teachers who have more than a BA degree. Higher salaries do not make teachers better; higher salaries just make teachers more affluent."

"Parents should pull their kids out of these government schools and send them to private schools for a better, safer, much more cost-effective education," Tobin concluded. "Private schools in Illinois consistently do a better job than government schools at about half the cost. We need to expand and increase Illinois' $500 education tax credit to allow more parents to send their children to the superior private schools and allow them to keep more of their own hard-earned money."

National Taxpayers United of Illinois Opposes Income Tax Hike

NATIONAL TAXPAYERS UNITED OF ILLINOIS
407 S. Dearborn, Suite 1170 * CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60605
(312) 427-5128 * Fax (312) 427-5139 * Web Site <www.ntui.org> * E-mail
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jim Tobin (312) 427-5128 or (773) 354-2076 (Cell)
April 9, 2008

TAXPAYERS ASK ILL. HOUSE COMMITTEE TO SCUTTLE STATE INCOME-TAX-HIKE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT HJRCA42

SPRINGFIELD—The president of Illinois’ largest taxpayer organization has asked each member of the State Government Administration Committee (SGAC) of the Ill. House to oppose House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 42 (HJRCA42). The letter of opposition was sent by FAX to each committee member on Monday, April 7.

“State Representative Michael K. Smith (D-91, Pekin) has sponsored a constitutional amendment, HJRCA42, that would double the state personal income tax for upper-middle class taxpayers,” said Jim Tobin, President of National Taxpayers United of Illinois (NTUI). The SGAC will consider HJRCA42 at 8:30 am, April 9, in Capitol Building Room 114.

“This bill is an income-distribution scheme that would make Karl Marx proud,” said Tobin. “The state income tax would be initially doubled, to 6 percent, on that portion of income of individuals and joint-filers that exceeds $250,000.”

“This is a shameful class-warfare bill that deserves to be put in the trash bin. Chicago machine politician, St. Rep. Joseph Lyons (D-19, Chicago), was quoted as saying, ‘Let’s take from the rich and give to the poor.’ However, what this bill would really do is take money from productive citizens and transfer it to less productive government employees.”

“The bill would sock it to the 107,000 households in the state who earn more than $250,000 a year.”

“Part of this tax windfall would be given to the state’s overpaid public school teachers, administrators and consultants, and the remainder would go to pork barrel projects such as state-sponsored construction. As a token, the personal exemption would be doubled for those making less than $250,000 annually.”

“This back-breaking state income tax increase would cause small business owners to move to states with lower tax rates and increase Illinois’ unemployment rate. In a time of economic downturn, raising taxes would be catastrophic to the local business environment.”

“I ask the members of the State Government Administration Committee to scuttle this socialistic raid on Illinois’ most productive citizens.”


Founded in 1976, NTUI is the largest taxpayer organization in Illinois with over
10,000 members and affiliation with more than 200 local taxpayer organizations.
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National Taxpayers United urges fight against CTA tax hikes

Please contact your state senator to say that you oppose House Bill 656 which will increase your sales tax to pay for a broken CTA system. Here is the letter we are sending to all of the state senators. They are voting in the next few days so tell all the people that you know to call your senator as well and show your disproval of any tax increase.

National Taxpayers United of Illinois
407 S. Dearborn, Suite 1170
Chicago, Illinois 60605 (312) 427-5128 FAX (312)427-5139
Web: www.ntui.org Email: ntui@ntui.org

January 14, 2008

Dear Senator,


Please vote “NO” on House Bill 656, which you will consider this week. It is a very bad bill for several reasons.

The CTA is a financial black hole that will not be made viable even with limited concessions by its overpaid union members. The bureaucracy is corrupt and incompetent, and needs to be replaced. Many buses carry less than half-a-dozen riders and the CTA Douglas line unnecessarily duplicates the service of the CTA Congress line on the Eisenhower Expressway. The so-called “doomsday” cuts are necessary and only the beginning of what is needed to restore viability. It will take more than cutting 81 bus routes and 2,400 employees before the CTA can survive.

The proposed $530 million tax hikes will harm the Illinois economy and low-income users. The window-dressing proposal to offer free rides to senior citizens makes no economic sense, and is strictly a media ploy. People over 65 don’t need free rides; only 17 percent are in the poverty range. In contrast, single female families have a poverty rate of 34 percent. The handicapped, students, and those on food stamps are needier—but then; why not offer free rides to everyone? Where do you draw the line?

The free rides for seniors will necessitate a fare increase that truly will hurt the poor under 65, to cover the anticipated shortfall of more than $30 million. The Chicago Tribune reports that 73 percent of those responding to its poll oppose giving senior citizens free rides.

The 200 percent RTA sales tax increase in the collar counties is grossly unfair to the residents of those counties, who use the CTA very little compared to the residents of Cook County, who will be asked to pay 25 percent more.

Furthermore, the huge hike in Chicago’s real estate transfer tax, which would raise it to $10.50 per $1,000, would give Chicago the highest real estate transfer tax of any large city. This is a 40% tax increase and will place a huge burden on not only home buyers, but also home sellers and small business owners in a depressed real-estate market.

I ask you to vote “NO” on HB 656. Chicago residents will be riled over the unconscionable increase in the real estate transfer tax. There very likely will be a political backlash against members of the General Assembly who support HB 656. Please don’t let yourself be duped by greedy union members and Chicago politicians who want to throw more taxpayer dollars at the moribund CTA. Thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,

Jim Tobin, President
Established in 1976 NTUI is the largest taxpayer organization in Illinois.