Liberals in Illinois are distancing themselves from soda tax Toni Preckwinkle aka Taxwinkle

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

No sugar rush for Taxwinkle's Democrats

What ever happened to Toni Preckwinkle?

The Cook County Board president was once almost impervious to criticism, respected if not beloved, that woman with the big glasses and clunky shoes.

For years she clomped around Democratic politics like a stern liberal librarian who knew what books were good for you.

But that was when Preckwinkle was Ms. Sensible Shoes.

Then she became a Democratic boss, and this drew out her stubborn nature and all this transformed her into Toni Taxwinkle.

And now, after stubbornly imposing her hated soda pop tax — making sweetened beverages in the county among the highest-costing in the nation — she's something else.

She's toxic to Democrats running for office in November. And Republicans see her as an opportunity.

Wasn't it just yesterday that she was a national Democratic darling? She was sitting with Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention — the spotlight on them for all the world could see — as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was being dissed and kicked to the margins by the national party.

Now look at her.

"She's gone from someone thinking she could be mayor to someone who's got to wonder if she could get re-elected," a longtime Democratic Party wise man told me Friday.

"If you're a Democrat running for the state legislature, you don't want her anywhere near you. The Republicans will use her against the Democrats. She's toxic. The voters are angry. They're fed-up. And you know why," the wise man said.

Yes. We all know why.

She pushed that ridiculously expensive penny-per-ounce pop tax through the County Board. She cast the tiebreaking vote. She stuck it to the working and middle classes who drink pop.

But she exempted those fancy barista-made sweetened coffee drinks favored by policy wonks who patronize gourmet coffee shops. And those on food stamp-type programs were exempt. A flaw in her tax could cause some $90 million a year in federal funding to be withheld if it isn't corrected.

Those who pay aren't worried about administrative flaws. They're more concerned with what they pay. They're not poor enough for food stamp programs. They're not rich enough to drop five or six bucks each time they have a fancy gourmet coffee milkshake.

But they vote. And they're angry.

Taxwinkle's pop tax became effective just after Democrats in the state legislature (with the help of a few quisling Republicans) hit Illinois taxpayers with a whopping 32 percent state income tax increase.

Taxwinkle's pop tax isn't hidden, like fee increases on cable, water and sewer services. This one is direct and clear. When Cook County consumers buy pop, diet or regular, they'll see the tax. And they'll think of her name.

They'll think of her the way they thought of former Mayor Richard M. Daley when they had to dig into their pockets for pounds of quarters just to fill the parking meters and pay his idiotic parking tax that forced him to step down.

Will the pop tax end Taxwinkle?

"I think a revolution has begun," said Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, a Democrat considering a run against her.

"All it's been with Taxwinkle, as you call her, is tax, tax, tax, spend, spend, spend," Boykin said. "We already have the highest sales tax in the country, and now she sticks it to working people who drink pop? ... It's a disaster."...

Rahm Emanuel's Chiraq is also one of the most dangerous cities for Black people.

 

[mdk]

Twinkletax would have been better.

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

Federal government warns Cook County on soda tax collection

The federal government is threatening to withhold about $87 million in food stamp funds from the state of Illinois if Cook County doesn't alter the manner in which the penny-an-ounce tax on sweetened beverages has been implemented, officials said Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is objecting to how the tax is applied to purchases using food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It says the county must take "immediate steps" to become compliant, adding no taxes can be collected until the problem is solved.

Cook County officials told retailers that purchases made with food stamp benefits are exempt from the soda tax under federal law. However, it allows retailers to tax those purchases and provide refunds as a workaround for stores that haven't been able to properly update their point-of-sale systems.

The Agriculture Department on Monday warned the Illinois Department of Human Services in a letter that the refund system violates federal law and money could be withheld.

"It is (Food and Nutrition Services') strict interpretation that retailers may not charge the tax to SNAP recipients at any time and that providing an immediate subsequent refund at a customer service desk does not cure the problem or the violation of the law," said DHS official James Dimas in a memo to Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle on Wednesday.

USDA officials told the county the regulation was "unacceptable" in a telephone call in June....

Damn, why do liberals hate the poor so much?

 

[sartre play]

Even on a tiny tiny level, glad to see tax/ finance being discussed. as this is the next big thing coming to congress. and we all should be talking & learning what we can

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

Chicago-area soda tax may carry political price for backers

CHICAGO (AP) -- When a local government leader passed the deciding vote on a penny-per-ounce soda tax, she said it would generate enough money to balance the county budget while making people in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs healthier.

But so far, the tax seems mostly to have created problems for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who until recently was so popular many considered her the only possible candidate who could unseat Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Opponents have filed lawsuits, a federal agency warned Illinois could lose millions in funding for food stamp benefits and store owners have complained of plummeting sales. There are signs angry residents could hold it against Preckwinkle and other pro-tax commissioners seeking re-election next year.

"It feels like every time you turn around they have their hand in your pocket," said Jim Taylor of Chicago, who paid $2.56 in new taxes for two 128-ounce plastic jugs of diet iced tea at a grocery store west of the city. "It's ridiculous. They should all go."

Now billionaire Michael Bloomberg, who tried unsuccessfully to ban giant sodas as mayor of New York, is trying to sway public opinion in Preckwinkle's favor. His super PAC started running TV and radio ads defending the tax as a way to reduce an "epidemic" of childhood obesity and other health conditions.

Groups advocating for retailers and the beverage industry also have been spending on advertising and lawsuits, making Cook County the latest place where multimillion-dollar battles are playing out. Political groups spent more than $3 million ahead of a special election earlier this year in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where voters rejected a tax. Last year, similar taxes were approved in cities including San Francisco; Oakland, California; and Philadelphia.

Cook County, which includes Chicago, became the largest jurisdiction in the U.S. to enact the tax on sugary and artificially sweetened beverages when the board voted to approve it in November. It applies not just to soda, but also to sports drinks, iced tea and lemonade, and comes on top of beverage taxes imposed by Illinois and Chicago. Supporters said it would bring in an estimated $225 million annually...

..Days before the tax was scheduled to take effect July 1, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association sued, saying it was unconstitutional. A judge put the tax on hold for almost a month before dismissing the suit. An appeal is pending.

Consumers have filed their own lawsuits against stores and restaurants since the tax kicked in Aug. 2, accusing them of charging more than customers should have to pay.

State lawmakers from both political parties also have filed legislation to repeal the tax.

But the biggest blowback could come from voters. The only polling that's been done has been by a firm that works closely with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and it found that voters overwhelmingly disapproved of the tax.

A coalition opposed to the tax also reported it's hurting retailers' bottom line.

At Tischler Finer Foods in Brookfield, manager Matt Gill said the store is considering making the soda aisle smaller because sales have dropped off so much. Many customers have said they're driving the roughly 5 miles to the next county to buy drinks without the added cost.

"We're still getting hit pretty hard by it," Gill said.

The store has posted signs in the soda aisle telling customers they'll pay $1.44 more on each 12-pack of soda because of the tax, and urging them to tell their county commissioner to repeal the tax.

Despite the warnings, Gill said the sticker shock for customers has been evident.

"Once they get to the register and see it all add up, they're like 'Wow,'" he said...

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

Preckwinkle says she has 'work to do' to avoid Cook County soda tax repeal

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday she's "got some work to do" to prevent the controversial soda tax from being repealed — an acknowledgment that came a day before opponents file a measure to erase it from the books.

The two-term board president has a thin margin to work with. The November vote to approve the penny-an-ounce tax on sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages was 8-8, with Preckwinkle breaking the rare tie with one commissioner absent. That means just one more "no" vote on the 17-member board could bring repeal.

Even if that happened, Preckwinkle could veto the repeal measure. It would then take a supermajority of commissioners to override, which could be a difficult benchmark for opponents to reach.

All of that could be on hold until October, however. Preckwinkle said Tuesday she expects the repeal measure to be referred to the Finance Committee, which means it would follow normal procedure and not be considered until next month. That was a sign Preckwinkle thinks that opponents don't have the nine votes needed to suspend the rules and take an immediate vote on repealing the tax.

But she was less certain about the tax's long-term prospects. Asked if she'll have the votes to block a repeal in October, Preckwinkle said she thinks "we've got some work to do in the next month, to talk to people ... about what exactly county government does, where the money goes...

...Even as Preckwinkle continues her public push to defend the soda tax, two commissioners who voted for it last fall said Tuesday they had yet to make up their minds on repeal.

Commissioner John Daley, D-Chicago, a Preckwinkle ally who is chairman of the Finance Committee, said he was still weighing his options.

"I'm willing to listen to both sides," Daley told the Chicago Tribune, adding that the repeal measure needed to first be sent to his committee so a financial analysis of repeal could be done before a vote. "I've been hearing from my community. They're upset."

Commissioner Edward Moody, D-Chicago Ridge, sounded similar themes. "We're going to give each side due course," he said. "I've been receiving a lot of calls, been meeting with a lot of the constituency, and I'm going to go from there."...

...As repeal supporters and backers worked behind the scenes, the public debate continued. Commissioner Richard Boykin, D-Oak Park, laid out a 10-point plan to cut county spending that he said would eliminate any need for the tax.

"Toni Preckwinkle and this unfair pop tax must go, and they must go right now," said Boykin, who voted against the tax and is mulling a primary challenge to Preckwinkle next March.

His comments came just before he joined tax opponents at a boisterous rally outside the Thompson Center, where Preckwinkle and billionaire New York businessman Michael Bloomberg were cast as the architects of a regressive tax that must be overturned to protect county residents and businesses.

The crowd of more than a hundred was packed with people wearing shirts emblazoned with the logos of various soft drink distributorships and the AMC movie theater chain. Commissioner Jeffrey Tobolski, D-McCook, argued the tax will force them to lay people off because of declining sales.

"Where are all my friends from Coca-Cola? Let me hear you," Tobolski said, before going on to call out "friends from" Dr Pepper-Snapple and Pepsi. "You work in good-paying jobs with benefits. ... It's very unfair for someone to try and come to take that away."

The crowd booed mentions of Bloomberg, who has committed $5 million for TV ads backing the tax and pledged to spend "whatever it takes" to support commissioners who voted for it.

Commissioner Sean Morrison, R-Palos Park, a repeal sponsor, asked the crowd if it believed Preckwinkle's argument that the tax is about public health.

"Do you believe this?" Morrison asked. "Go home, Bloomberg. Stick in New York. This is Chicago, Mike."...

 

[Manonthestreet]

Why dont they want to pay their fair share???

 

[Wyatt earp]

I bet you Rderp the twerp supports this...

God I am so glad I left cook county and illinois in 2004

 

[AsianTrumpSupporter]

How Preckwinkle's pop tax backfired

When Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle first floated the idea of a pop tax to commissioners last October, a big part of her pitch was an appeal to their sense of self-preservation.

"We said to people, 'We're going to take one tough vote in the next three years, that's it. Then we're done,'" said Preckwinkle, making a reference to the financial stability the new money would bring. "And needless to say, that's very attractive when you have to run for election."

As political calculations go, this one backfired in a big way.

A botched rollout coupled with a huge public backlash fueled by general tax fatigue and the beverage industry's well-funded pushback campaign has made the pop tax the biggest issue in county government in nearly a decade.

Now a repeal vote is slated for next month, and several commissioners could find themselves fighting for their political lives next year. So could Preckwinkle, who a few months ago seemed like a shoo-in to win her third and final term despite pushing through the soda tax on top of a 1-percentage-point sales tax increase in 2015.

"It's really simple," said Commissioner Sean Morrison, a Palos Park Republican and the lead sponsor of the repeal measure. "It's going to come down to an up-or-down vote and, at the end of the day, the residents are tellin' 'em 'Can the tax or can the commissioner.'"

Warning signs

Approval of the soda tax was not a slam-dunk. Even before Preckwinkle publicly unveiled the penny-per-ounce charge on Oct. 13, the whispers had started at the County Building, and opponents went up with TV and radio ads opposing it.

But Preckwinkle sweetened the deal by giving each commissioner control over $500,000 in gas tax revenue to spend on transportation projects in their districts. She also rallied public health advocates to point out that downing fewer Mountain Dews could lead to a drop in obesity and diabetes.

Commissioners deadlocked, and Preckwinkle cast a rare, tie-breaking vote to impose the tax. If it hadn't gone as smoothly as Preckwinkle hoped, at least the new tax had passed, the budget was balanced and the heat was mostly on her.

Then it all started to unravel.

While the vote was taken in November 2016, providing plenty of distance from the March 2018 primary election, the tax wasn't scheduled to take effect until July 1.

The vagaries of federal law, the Illinois Constitution and state statutes meant it took months to come up with the rules of how the tax would be put in place, and changes were still being made late in the game.

For example, county officials at one point planned to tax low-income folks receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, but the state later told them that could not be done.

For weeks, reporters warned the public the tax was about to take effect. A few days before July 1, merchants sued to block the tax.

That raised the public focus on the issue. Preckwinkle called for laying off hundreds of county workers if a judge tossed the pop tax, even as county taxpayers stocked up on Coke and Pepsi while hoping for a reprieve.

Preckwinkle prevailed in court and, when the tax went into effect Aug. 2, both retailers and their customers were confused about what drinks should be taxed. That, in turn, triggered more lawsuits that stoked the negative headlines and consumer frustration.

While the tax was meant to apply to all sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages, pop drinkers demanded to know why diet beverages were hit. The rules also meant that some restaurants taxed free refills, which diners found particularly irksome.

In Philadelphia, a soda tax was applied to distributors, meaning it didn't show up on store receipts. But here, county officials said the Illinois Department of Revenue ruled the pop tax had to be applied at the cash register. And so store owners opted to list the new tax on receipts, a reminder to consumers that the case of soda they'd purchased now cost an additional $2.88.

"From messaging to implementation to rollout, anything that could go wrong with this tax did go wrong," said Commissioner John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat and co-sponsor of the repeal ordinance.

Political fallout

County government hasn't seen such a backlash since 2009, when then-Board President Todd Stroger pushed through a 1 percentage-point sales tax increase. The furor eventually led to its repeal and helped topple Stroger from office. Preckwinkle defeated him by promising to repeal the half-percent that remained. She did so, but after winning re-election, she reinstated the sales tax increase as a way to pay for vastly underfunded county worker pensions.

The sales tax flip-flop, however, did not result in anywhere near the furor Preckwinkle faces over the soda tax.

Unlike during the Stroger era, the anger this time is not just directed at the county board president. Some commissioners who voted for the pop tax are in the political crosshairs too. If the issue provided fertile ground for would-be challengers, a run for office was made all the more appealing by the promise of campaign money from the beverage industry and retailers that have made repeal their core mission.

For longtime Chicagoans, the politics involved are akin to the 2007 city elections. Back then, well-funded labor unions started targeting aldermen over then-Mayor Richard M. Daley's veto of an ordinance requiring higher wages for big-box retailers like Wal-Mart. Daley held on to his power, but some aldermen lost their seats...