Mass Transit Funding (Chicago, Peoria, McHenry: budget, maintenance, income)

[FormerStocktonian]

Okay, here we go again with a proposed tax hike for Chicago and the surrounding suburbs for the mass transit problem.

How many tax increases and fare hikes can we possibly take? We are being suffocated with all these tax increases. When is it going to stop?

Like I said before, maybe we need to take some money from the billion dollar tollway system to help out. After all, the reason for mass transit is to decrease the amount of traffic and gridlock on our highways? We cannot afford another tax increase to bail out a system that is corrupt and can't seem to manage their money. Think about it, the tollway is sitting pretty without any worries making their big bucks and not putting the money back into our roads. Have them help to support the transit system.

We are the highest and most taxed state in the country, right up there with New York and soon to be taxed higher than New York. We are taxed to drive on the roads, which should be paid by our gas taxes and vehicle registration. I'm surprised that they haven't started to tax us on the air that we breath, or is that next?

[Chicago60614]

^ The CTA is a mess now because no one bothered to adjust any of the funding formulas from 25 years ago, and now they're horribly out of date and not supplying the money the CTA needs to function normally.

There was a big audit done on the CTA last year to see what the main problem was, and the audit found that the agency needs more money from the state, and the current system was flawed. As far as corruption and efficienty, the audit surprisingly found that the CTA functions more efficiently than almost any transit system in the country. They make due with far less than other agencies.

It's easy to blame the CTA, but the main reason this is happening now is because people ignored the problem until it literally blew up in their faces. Now we have to go back and fix what needed to be fixed years ago. They knew this was coming, but no one would do anything about it. The CTA has been screaming about this for years, but in general Americans just hate mass transit, which is seen in this country as a waste, and something for the "urban poor".

[FormerStocktonian]

^ I didn't mean to come off as blaming the CTA. It's just that I don't think we can afford another tax increase in the Chicago area. I don't know, I guess it's just aggrevating when something gets broken financially, they expect the residents to fork over more cash in taxes instead of looking into alternatives. That's just my opionion, but I guess if people don't mind spending their hard earned money on tax increases, then that's fine.

[Avengerfire]

I dont think a quarter of one percent is a huge amount of money to pay to keep the Chicago regions mass transit budgets balanced. In fact, why dont they just raise it to a full dollar per 100 and repair,rebuild, and extend mass transit? I would gladly pay an extra dollar per $100 so we can have a system that will meet the needs of the region for decades.

I have to pay an extra dollar for every $400 dollars I spend to keep mass transit running at it current levels? Wow, that is huge.

[Avengerfire]

Btw-is your county included in the tax increase? As far as I know, it is not. Tell me if I am wrong...

[trailerguy]

It makes sense to tax the communities that use the service. If I lived in Peoria and was paying substantially higher taxes to subsidize the Chicago el, I'd be pretty unhappy. Tollway revenues should only go to the tollways for expansion and maintenance.

[sukwoo]

Originally Posted by trailerguy

It makes sense to tax the communities that use the service. If I lived in Peoria and was paying substantially higher taxes to subsidize the Chicago el, I'd be pretty unhappy. Tollway revenues should only go to the tollways for expansion and maintenance.

As far as I know, the only counties affected are those within the RTA region (Cook, Lake, Dupage, Will, McHenry, and Kane). No other counties will be affected. Cook county sales tax wil increase 0.25 percent while the collar counties will increase 0.5 percent. Half of the collar county increase can be applied toward road maintenance. In other words, for every $100 you spend, you will be taxed an addition 50 cents (or 25 in Cook).

Furthermore, in Illinois we pay one of the LOWEST state income tax rates in the country (3% flat rate). As a result, other taxes (sales and property) have to be higher to compensate.

[prairiestate]

I'm a huge supporter of transit and yet vehemently opposed to any tax hike, no matter how small, just on principal. What we need to do in this state is layoff thousands of patronage employees, openly bid the thousands of contracts handed out to friends and generally clean up the corruption. After we see how many hundreds of millions of dollars are available, THEN we can talk about a tax hike if we still need it. All this increase will do is end up in the general fund to be frittered away, and we'll be right back to this point in 5 years.

[FormerStocktonian]

I am really surprised that everyone here is agreeing to a tax increase. Okay, so maybe I don't live in Chicago or the surrounding counties. However, I do work and spend all my weekends in this area and entertain my clients in Chicago and the suburbs, so it does affect me. It is the principle of being additionally taxed for mass transit. You allow a little and then they will start to take more. It's a never ending cycle.

As far as the tollways, I have not really seen a major improvement of our toll dollards going towards expansion or maintenance. Okay, yes, we had the I-355 South extention recently, but in how many years has that been the most recent project. Tell me that you have not run into any pot holes on your commute using the tollway. Not that much has been improved.

So, maybe the tax inrease is not that significant, but it all adds up in the end. If we allow this, then what next?

[supernerdgirl]

Originally Posted by FormerStocktonian

I am really surprised that everyone here is agreeing to a tax increase. Okay, so maybe I don't live in Chicago or the surrounding counties. However, I do work and spend all my weekends in this area and entertain my clients in Chicago and the suburbs, so it does affect me. It is the principle of being additionally taxed for mass transit. You allow a little and then they will start to take more. It's a never ending cycle.

You don't seem to understand what it feels like to NEED mass transit to get to work, the grocery store, the bank, and to NEED that one bus route that you were shocked to find out that might get cut and to NEED the rest of them at some point. I do.

that's why I say 25 cents per $100? big deal. wow, that's one less load of laundry for every $400 i spend.