Chicago City Wire

Cook County Board Commissioner and GOP Chair Sean Morrison argues that all the new taxes and fee increases that went into effect in Chicago on Jan. 1 provide a glaring example of what is wrong throughout Illinois state government.

“They’re indicative of the oversized, bloated government we have and how none of the leaders from the majority party are working to reduce noncritical government spending,” Morrison told Chicago City Wire. “There’s no political will to cut nonessential programs and expenditures. You don’t have to be an economist to understand if you keep raising costs, you’re going to have to keep raising fees to cover it.”

As of Jan. 1, taxpayers in Chicago became liable for $18 million in new property taxes as part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to plug the city’s $838 overall million budget shortfall. Collectively, property taxes are slated to rise somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million when one factors in the $32 million previously signed off on by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel for debt service.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

And then there’s the additional $15 million for the value of new property in the city and an increase of another $5 million from the Chicago Park District budget, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“We all know that spending is out of control, but they’re going to keep doing things like this as long as voters keep voting them in,” Morrison said. “It’s going to take a majority change in leadership. It’s been one-party leadership for decades and with that there’s no urgency to reduce spending and what is approved suffers from a serious lack of judiciary responsibility.”