Let us be clear,  the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition doesn’t oppose O’Hare Airport, it is a tremendous asset to the region. Rather, we strongly oppose the taxpayer financing of the O’Hare Airport expansion. We oppose it for the same reasons we oppose the taxpayer financing of the expansion to Schaumburg Airport. 

This taxpayer financing is not the same as when government spends taxpayer money to build the roads. The money for the roads comes from user taxes in the form of tolls and gasoline taxes. Therefore, the cost of the building and maintaning the roads is paid for by the people who use them. Fair enough.

Airport construction financing is an entirely different story. O’Hare Airport expansion money comes, not from taxes on the users of Airports, but largely from general revenue funds in the federal budget. That means that citizens who may never use the Airports directly will be forced to pay for them through income and business taxes. It also means that taxpayers in Juno, Alaska are forced to pay for services they will never use or benefit from. That’s just plain wrong.

If the expansion of O’Hare airport was financed by fees on the ticketed passengers and cargo, we would be all for it. Well, except for that whole coercive eminent domain issue.

The most common trotted out argument in support of taxpayer subsidies for airports often comes in the form of  ”the Airport helps generate $X billions of dollars of economic activity, and creates X amount of jobs.” Many a bureaucrat, politician, and corporate welfare recipient has used the direct, indirect, and induced valuation, to create dramatically inflated statistics and mislead the taxpayers. Those who use that type of argumentation usually don’t talk about direct, indirect, and induced costs of taxing the citizens and how much economic activity and jobs taxes destroy. They should.

Mayor Daley and his constituents have sought and received, from the Illinois State Legislature, the power to forcibly condemn and bulldoze properties in the surrounding areas. Why destroy viable taxpaying businesses to advance an industry that can only expand on the backs of unwilling taxpayers?

Just one question. Would the Airlines be able to expand O’Hare if they didn’t get so much taxpayer subsidies? Probably not. Consumers are voting every day with their economic choices and they are saying loud and clear that they don’t want an expansion of O’Hare airport at the price it would take to achieve it. Why won’t the politicians listen to the people and respect their marketplace decisions?

Interestingly, all the major airlines out at O’Hare have taken a principled stand and teamed up to oppose the O’Hare expansion plan. If they don’t want it, then why does Mayor Daley? When politicians increase taxes for their pet projects, the politicians and their constituents get rich, while the people get poorer.

Check out this excellent new video from Citizens Against Government Waste.

Medill Reports has this insightful report on yesterday’s press conference to oppose Mayor Daley’s O’Hare expansion project:

Here’s some more great coverage from a press conference opposing Mayor Daley’s O’Hare expansion boondoggle via Reform Cook County and Tony Peraica:

ABC 7 Chicago reports:

“The mayor is looking to get $50 million in stimulus money to reward his political donors and contractors to pour more concrete that the airlines have already stated they don’t need, they don’t want, they can’t afford to use,” said Tony Peraica, (R) Cook County Board Commissioner.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Cook County Board Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-Riverside) labeled the airport project another pay-to-play scheme that is “a boondoggle for the mayor and his political donors.”

From The Daily Herald:

Bensenville Village President John Geils flew to Washington D.C. last week to lobby members of Congress and interest groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste to oppose funding the O’Hare Modernization Program, or OMP.

Tuesday, he was flanked by Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, who called the project a “boondoggle,” plus a few officials from Prospect Heights, Park Ridge, the Illinois Policy Institute and Alliance of Residents Concerning O’Hare.

Call or write your legislator today and oppose this wasteful spending. Support a sound citizen-driven free-market economy instead.

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