The political class in Chicago has now made the city the first and only in America where the cumulative sales tax rate exceeds 10%. That seems an awfully strange thing to do in a city where over 21% of the measured population lives under the poverty line (according to the American Community Survey). One of the major objections to consumption-type taxes is that they are regressive – in other words the impact of the tax is inversely related with income. The poor are hurt more than those who are better off. Now it would be one thing entirely if this sales tax were replacing the state or portions of the federal income tax. But it is not. It is on top of the already excessive tax rates we must pay.
How can we take any politician seriously that claims to fight for the interests of the poor, the downtrodden, the under-represented? It is all hogwash. These officials are power-hungry megalomaniacs that seek to maintain office and provide patronage to their supporters and other favored groups. Perhaps because the poor are under-represented, the political thugs in Chicago were able to ram this new tax down the throats of the citizens of Chicago. And when the burden of this tax further widens the gap between rich and poor in Chicago, politicians will use that observation to support the notion that something further needs to be done to help the poor. And sadly, many of the citizens will fall for it. Again.
Politicians do not love us. How can they?
