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I just want to know what Chicago would need all those taxes for?
State income tax, 10.25% and 2.25% sales tax, .5 cents per water bottle tax (city water isn’t yummy), plastic bag tax (get rid of plastic bags all together and get rid of the tax), sugar tax (I saw too many skinny people to need that tax) I can’t remember all of them but I know there were more.
Why is everyone in such a hurry and angry?
I’ve never been bumped into cut off or heard more honking in my life.
What’s up with all the homeless? We have programs and shelters and private security to keep the homeless at bay, but almost every corner has a homeless guy wanting my hard earned money.
Location: Cleveland, OH USA / formerly Chicago for 20 years
4,069 posts, read 7,320,406 times
Reputation: 3062
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flylettuce
I just want to know what Chicago would need all those taxes for?
State income tax, 10.25% and 2.25% sales tax, .5 cents per water bottle tax (city water isn’t yummy), plastic bag tax (get rid of plastic bags all together and get rid of the tax), sugar tax (I saw too many skinny people to need that tax) I can’t remember all of them but I know there were more.
Taxes... How else are you going to fund all those overpriced pensions the state Constitution won't let you get rid of?
I always thought Chicago city water was just fine. I usually only ever drank tap water at restaurants (to save money) and I always thought it was good.
Now, the water out of the kitchen faucet at my highrise was always a bit cloudy at first, so I had to run the tap a few minutes. Then I'd bottle the water and put it in my fridge until it was really chilled, and it was fine too. Sometimes I'd put a bottle in the freezer just long enough for it to collect a few shards of ice, then drink it. Refreshing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flylettuce
Why is everyone in such a hurry and angry?
I’ve never been bumped into cut off or heard more honking in my life.
More evidence that Chicago is indeed a fast-paced city, as I just asserted in another thread. People don't like dawdling.
Look at it this way: You get some of the NYC ambiance without paying NYC prices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flylettuce
What’s up with all the homeless? We have programs and shelters and private security to keep the homeless at bay, but almost every corner has a homeless guy wanting my hard earned money.
Homeless shelters can be scary places. Or so I've heard. Most of the chronically long-term homeless have either mental illness or problems with drug addiction. Often they have both problems. Crowd a lot of them into a shelter together and things are bound to happen.
I knew a homeless guy in Chicago who refused to go to shelters because he got beat up all the time there. He used to spend his nights sleeping in hospital waiting rooms instead.
And BTW, not all of those panhandlers hitting you up are truly homeless.
I just want to know what Chicago would need all those taxes for?
State income tax, 10.25% and 2.25% sales tax, .5 cents per water bottle tax (city water isn’t yummy), plastic bag tax (get rid of plastic bags all together and get rid of the tax), sugar tax (I saw too many skinny people to need that tax) I can’t remember all of them but I know there were more.
Why is everyone in such a hurry and angry?
I’ve never been bumped into cut off or heard more honking in my life.
What’s up with all the homeless? We have programs and shelters and private security to keep the homeless at bay, but almost every corner has a homeless guy wanting my hard earned money.
A lot of the tax income goes towards pensions that were designed by shady unions and underfunded from the start. There will be a breaking point because taxes can only get so high. According to law, the pensions must be paid out, but I suspect the law will be changed sometime in the near future.
Each generation should be responsible for funding their own retirement. The taxes current retirees paid while they were working should have gone towards their own retirement systems. Instead, retirement systems rely on people currently working to pay for the previous generation. What happens when fewer people have children (which is currently the case with my generation)? Will I be screwed when I go to retire?
The other portion of tax income goes towards repairing an old and crumbling city. Places like Dallas can offer lower taxes because their highways, sewers, and construction is much newer. The city of Chicago has been really lax on keeping up with maintenance and it's finally catching up to them.
Also, I don't think people here are in a hurry or angry. Maybe they are more hurried compared to small town Iowa, but Chicagoans are pretty nice for city folks. Chicago is definitely a big city, but many of the neighborhoods feel more like small towns to me.
And the homeless thing is definitely a problem here, but it's really a problem in most big cities. Big cities offer more services and opportunities for homeless, so that's why they are here. Also, I'm sure a lot of the homeless people in Chicago are originally from Chicago, so why would they go anywhere else?
Chicago is a fast paced city, people have things to do and don’t like to get stuck in traffic, so when the light turns green GO! Don’t stand in the middle of the sidewalk looking at your phone...step to the side. To be honest I find slower paced cities to be more aggravating.
You have read about the high taxes, it’s something we love to complain about, it’s due to the crooked polictiains. The homeless here isn’t as bad as California.
Your forgot to add parking and tolls to your list.
In my opinion Chicago has just the right amount of honking.
In New York, people seem to honk all the time for no reason, like they just want you to know they exist and are driving, which is irritating. At the other extreme, in small towns people NEVER honk, even when someone is sitting still at a green light or otherwise holding up traffic, which is also irritating. In Chicago, for the most part, I find people honk when someone else is being oblivious and needs a wake up call-- no more and no less. I like that!!
I must be one of those "in a hurry" people you're talking about, because I get annoyed when people seem to be on a constant leisurely stroll or drive without awareness that 95% of the people on sidewalks and highways are trying to get somewhere. Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with a leisurely stroll or drive! Just do it in such a way that you stay out of the way of people who have someplace they need to be, which is most people. Be mindful and respectful of those around you, and stay out of their way if they are in more of a hurry than you are. If you're not, that might be why you think people in Chicago are angry. I don't find people in Chicago to be any more or less angry on average than people anywhere else.
I see you are in a small town, by the way-- I've lived in both small towns and large cities, and I thought it was generally understood that large cities tend to be faster-paced than small towns. That's just a fact of life.
To be honest I find slower paced cities to be more aggravating.
Me too! I lived in a small town for college and witnessed someone in a car having a conversation with someone on the sidewalk in a shopping center. The car was completely blocking the exit to the shopping center. Talk about being in La La Land.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SkylarkPhotoBooth
In my opinion Chicago has just the right amount of honking.
No, there's still too much here. I hate the people who are 5 or 6 cars back and just LAY on the horn as soon as the light turns green. Of course, they cannot see the intersection and are unaware that an old lady is still crossing the road, or that another driver is blocking the intersection.
No, there's still too much here. I hate the people who are 5 or 6 cars back and just LAY on the horn as soon as the light turns green. Of course, they cannot see the intersection and are unaware that an old lady is still crossing the road, or that another driver is blocking the intersection.
I honestly am not sure I've ever encountered that. That does sound annoying, though.
I just want to know what Chicago would need all those taxes for?
State income tax, 10.25% and 2.25% sales tax, .5 cents per water bottle tax (city water isn’t yummy), plastic bag tax (get rid of plastic bags all together and get rid of the tax), sugar tax (I saw too many skinny people to need that tax) I can’t remember all of them but I know there were more.
The sugar tax got killed (or is in the process of being killed, anyway).
The bottled water tax is to encourage people to use their own water and quit wasting bottles. If you think Chicago's water is bad, you haven't been very many places, in my opinion. Portland, Seattle, and, surprisingly, New York have better water in my opinion, but that's about it. For a large city, I think Chicago's water is fine. And if you get a home filter (even just a filtering container or pitcher for the fridge, it's basically indiscernible from generic bottled water.
State income tax is still on the lower end of average for most people - it's really only high if you're lower income and comparing to states with no or progressive income taxes.
Sales tax could (should) be tweaked, but part of the reason it's high is because we have a lot of tourism and so the tourists get soaked.
Bag tax is all about reducing disposible bag use. I'd have supported one as high as $0.10 per bag - the 7 cent one (only $0.05 is actually a tax, the store keeps $0.02 for itself) is lower than I expected. The alternative was the city banning all plastic bags, which punishes pedestrians, since drivers can easily keep a bunch of re-usable bags in their car in case they decide suddenly to stop for a few things, whereas it's a burden on pedestrians to always carry something they will probably only occasionally use. It's not a *huge* burden, but really I can't support anything that adds even a little burden disproportionally on pedestrians - on people who are already doing far more to be eco-friendly than drivers are.
What do the taxes pay for? Everything from road maintenance, to transit, to city workers who help plan things, to the pensions for retired city workers, to keeping the city's downtown clean enough that visitors frequently comment on how clean it is, to city health services for the elderly, to police support, to many other things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flylettuce
Why is everyone in such a hurry and angry?
I’ve never been bumped into cut off or heard more honking in my life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flylettuce
What’s up with all the homeless? We have programs and shelters and private security to keep the homeless at bay, but almost every corner has a homeless guy wanting my hard earned money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BRU67
Have to ask why? Try NWI!!
...
NWI looks and feels, to me, like the parts of Ohio being pummelled by the opiate epidemic.
The sugar tax got killed (or is in the process of being killed, anyway).
The bottled water tax is to encourage people to use their own water and quit wasting bottles. If you think Chicago's water is bad, you haven't been very many places, in my opinion. Portland, Seattle, and, surprisingly, New York have better water in my opinion, but that's about it. For a large city, I think Chicago's water is fine. And if you get a home filter (even just a filtering container or pitcher for the fridge, it's basically indiscernible from generic bottled water.
State income tax is still on the lower end of average for most people - it's really only high if you're lower income and comparing to states with no or progressive income taxes.
Sales tax could (should) be tweaked, but part of the reason it's high is because we have a lot of tourism and so the tourists get soaked.
Bag tax is all about reducing disposible bag use. I'd have supported one as high as $0.10 per bag - the 7 cent one (only $0.05 is actually a tax, the store keeps $0.02 for itself) is lower than I expected. The alternative was the city banning all plastic bags, which punishes pedestrians, since drivers can easily keep a bunch of re-usable bags in their car in case they decide suddenly to stop for a few things, whereas it's a burden on pedestrians to always carry something they will probably only occasionally use. It's not a *huge* burden, but really I can't support anything that adds even a little burden disproportionally on pedestrians - on people who are already doing far more to be eco-friendly than drivers are.
What do the taxes pay for? Everything from road maintenance, to transit, to city workers who help plan things, to the pensions for retired city workers, to keeping the city's downtown clean enough that visitors frequently comment on how clean it is, to city health services for the elderly, to police support, to many other things.
NWI looks and feels, to me, like the parts of Ohio being pummelled by the opiate epidemic.
Correct about the sugary beverage tax. The last day that was in effect, was November 30th. It is now officially dead in Cook County, as of now. As for NW Indiana, yes some places feel rust belt like(i.e. Gary in the neighborhoods that have suffered population decline), but I wouldn't say all of NWI is bad. There are some hidden gem places in NWI that are surprisingly nice, such as Whiting(side note: I love going to Pierogifest every year, and 119th/Indianapolis Blvd. is a nice downtown area), Griffith, Crown Point, Munster, Chesterton, Valparaiso to name examples. This isn't ALL nice places in NWI mind you, and I'm sure I am forgetting a few.
Mod cut: Orphaned (quoted post has been deleted).
Last edited by PJSaturn; 12-11-2017 at 12:12 PM..
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