Schaumburg Voters Overwhelmingly Support Cook County Sales Tax Rollback! 91%-9%
April 9th, 2009 | by Brian Costin Published in Blog, Features, Schaumburg Politics, Taxes | 13 Comments
While there wasn’t much competition in Schaumburg municipal elections, some very encouraging news came from Schaumburg voters this Tuesday.
Schaumburg Township voters were greeted at the ballot box with this non-binding referendum.
“On July 1, 2008 Cook County began collecting a one (1) percentage point sales tax increase. Do you support the continued collection of the one (1) percentage point sales tax increase?”
Voters truly have had enough with the sky high Cook County tax rates. The sales tax increase gave Cook County the highest sales taxes in the nation. The City of Chicago has the highest rate at 10.25% and Schaumburg is number two with a 10% sales tax (12% for restaurants). Win, place, or show having some of the highest sales taxes in the nation is not a competition that the Village of Schaumburg should want to win.
The Village of Schaumburg has reported that sales tax revenue from Woodfield Mall over the 2008 holiday season and into 2009 have taken a dramatic dive. If the Village of Schaumburg doesn’t do something about lifting the crushing burden of the second highest sales tax rate in the nation when the recession is over, business’ will start looking for new opportunities somewhere other than Schaumburg. Perhaps DuPage or Lake Counties where their customers won’t have to pay such high taxes on their goods.
Back to the good news. Schaumburg voters are primed and ready to fight for a reduction in sales taxes. Hopefully the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition can help lead the charge.
On March 9, 2009 a story on the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition in the Daily Herald made the suggestion for the Mayor and Village Trustees to seriously consider policy changes to reduce local sales taxes and also property taxes.
“Costin’s suggestion is that the Village sell its new convention center to a private owner, in part to put it back on the property tax rolls.”
“What’s more, he’s looking for candidates to challenge the board in 2011 – including longtime Mayor Al Larson, should he seek another term.”
“Costin thinks visitors and residents should have relief from the Village’s high sales taxes.”
Mayor Larson and all of the current Village Trustees, save newcomer Frank Kozak, voted to raise sales taxes (2004) or maintain them at their high rates.
Judging from the recent election, the people of Schaumburg have far different views. Of the 6,013 people who voted across Schaumburg Township, 5,466 people voted in favor of overturning the recent Cook County sales tax increase at a whopping 91%.
So overwhelming was the pro-rollback views of Schaumburg voters, 7 of the precincts voted 100% in favor of rolling back the Cook County sales tax hike.
Schaumburg Township Sales Tax Roll Back Unanimous Votes
Precinct 85 46-0
Precinct 27 26-0
Precinct 49 25-0
Precinct 105 25-0
Precinct 82 19-0
Precinct 100 19-0
Precinct 91 12-0
It’s not just Schaumburg either. All across the Northwest Suburbs voters overwhelmingly supported reducing sales taxes.
Stroger's Sales Taxes Very Unpopular
Daily Herald: Local voters hate Stroger tax
Across Barrington, Elk Grove, Hanover, Maine, Palatine, Schaumburg and Wheeling townships, voters took their anger to the ballot box, overwhelmingly saying they want the tax to end. Opposition topped 90 percent in most townships.
While its been in the works for a few months now, with the results of Tuesday municipal elections, the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition believes now is the time for our organization and community to take bold action. The Schaumburg Freedom Coalition will be forming a local grassroots political organization with the intent of placing a binding resolution on the ballot for the municipal elections in 2011, to roll back Schaumburg’s home rule sales tax rate 0.5%.
To offset the $10 million loss in revenue to the Village, we also plan to place a second binding referendum on the ballot to stop corporate welfare and sell the Schaumburg Convention Center & Hotel, Alexian Field, and the Schaumburg Airport. The tax haul of these three projects nears $10 million per year and an additional $6-$8 million in property taxes each year.
This will be no small task. To place a binding referendum on the ballot, citizens must collect & verify signatures totalling 8% of the 40,000+ registered voters in Schaumburg. To reliably sustain a challenge from opponents, we will have to collect over 6,000 signatures. We will need all the help we can get but judging from the election results this week there should be lots of pro-sales tax rollback Schaumburg citizens to work with.
Check back at www.schaumburgfreedom.com in the weeks and months ahead for more details and information on the 2011 referendums how to get involved.
Related posts:
- Schaumburg Hikes Taxes on Local Businesses, Again! Considering the economic recession and the increased taxes the Village...
April 12th, 2009 at 7:40 PM (#)
“Joe”-
Thanks. I think I’ll work on rolling back Schaumburg’s second highest sales tax in the nation. That sounds like a good challenge for me and the 91% of Schaumburg citizens who favored rolling back sales taxes.
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April 13th, 2009 at 10:22 PM (#)
So now your advocating property taxes on dog houses in Schaumburg. Those Village officials will tax anything won’t they?
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April 13th, 2009 at 10:59 PM (#)
I think as the article above shows that 91% of Schaumburg voters think the Sales tax is too high. I think the views of 91% of Schaumburg is a worthwhile opinion to hear. Maybe the Village board members should listen to us.
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April 14th, 2009 at 11:30 AM (#)
Joe,
It is the purpose of this site and the SFC to give the people of Schaumburg information to back them up when it comes to objecting to overreaching government actions. It worked with the red light cameras, and it can work with bringing down the sales tax.
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April 14th, 2009 at 10:07 PM (#)
Perhaps, your right Joe. I cannot attest to what Village Board members were thinking when they turned off the cameras. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the SFC. I only know what the SFC did in efforts to get them turned off, and we did a lot. I really don’t care who takes the credit.
Interestingly, the only way that you would positively know that our efforts did not influence the Village Board, is if you are indeed a Village Board member yourself. Which begs the question why do you continue to post anonymously to this site, where there is no way we can verify any of your claims?
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April 19th, 2009 at 3:27 PM (#)
Just as a point of interest the right turn camera was already turned off before you & your group protested at the village board meeting. Also, from what I read in the newspaper you & your group made total fools of yourselves & most people laughed at you. Maybe a koolaide stand would have been a better option.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 8:24 PM
Joe-
Don’t confuse anger and beliefs. I have a belief in lower taxes, transparent government, no corporate welfare, and common sense public safety measures.
I go to Village board meetings and comment on stories because I believe in standing up for your ideals.
As far as the red light camera story. You can see by looking at the Village meeting minutes that the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition represented by myself & others, such as Bob Garrett, have been at the Village meetings concerning the red light camera at all stages of the legislation. From the initial public safety meetings, to the meeting where the Village officially okay-ed the contract with Red Speed, to the meeting when the Village decided to turn the right turn lane cameras off.
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Brian Costin Reply:
June 11th, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Joe,
Our group was protesting the red light camera before they went up. I was at the Village board meeting when the Village Trustees voted 6-0 to approve the red light camera. This was months before the camera was operational and months before it was pulled down. We led a letter writing campaign that from what I heard was the most extensive amount of response that the Village Trustees ever received on a issue before.
But then again this is an article about the 91%-9% of Schaumburg residents who voted for a sales tax roll back. I agree with the 91% & I don’t think they are laughing about high sales taxes.
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April 19th, 2009 at 8:12 PM (#)
Joe,
Personally, I don’t believe your a Board member in disguise. Now I was at the Board meeting, and yes, the camera was turned off. The front-page article in the paper was actually fair. Here’s a quote:
“Schaumburg officials received both praise and scorn Tuesday night over two actions related to their red-light camera policy.
What a couple of residents found praiseworthy was the village board’s decision to deactivate a controversial camera at Meacham and Woodfield roads that generated nearly $1 million in fines just from drivers who failed to come to a complete stop before turning right on red.
But the same residents objected that trustees also applied to the Illinois Department of Transportation to install further cameras at state-owned intersections in other parts of the village.”
With that said, I even asked them what the current plans were for camera instillation. Mayor Larson told me they’re not planning on anything new, but did not mention that application.
The idea was not to beat down an issue that was dead, but to make sure they don’t forget we’re watching.
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Brian Costin Reply:
April 19th, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Good point. I have heard repeatedly that the Village plans more red-light cameras. Up to 10 in total. That is what we are bringing attention to here.
The application to install more cameras is what we were addressing that night. I think at least three people, Mike Theodore, Bob Garrett, and myself all congratulated the Village on turning off the right turn lane red light camera that night before asking them to reconsider their addition of more cameras.
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September 7th, 2009 at 7:37 PM (#)
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November 4th, 2009 at 10:22 AM (#)
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