Tax Eaters Rally in Springfield for Tax Increase

Today at 11 am, an aggregation of tax-dependent interest groups rallied in at the Capitol in Springfield to call on the General Assembly to increase the income tax rates for Illinois working people and businesses.

The main organizers of the event were the SEIU public employees union and Illinois' two teachers unions, the IFT and IEA. Calling themselves The Responsible Budget Coalition, they assembled a gaggle of other tax-dependent groups to call on lawmakers to support HB 174, a bill which would increase the state income tax for individuals from 3% to 5% and for corporations from 4.8% to 7.2%.

See a synopsis of the bill here.

The bill has already passed the State Senate 31-27 on May 30th and is currently sitting in the House Rules Committee awaiting further consideration.

The Coalition demanding a tax hike consists of a broad array of non-profit advocacy groups, ranging from the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights to the Featherfist homeless lobby group.

Apparently some in the coalition viewed the tax hike contained in HB 174 as being too paltry as the coalition mission statement calls for a tax increase "at least of that magnitude."

Here is a complete list of the organizations that are rallying today to increase your income taxes:


AARP Illinois ~ A Safe Haven ~ Access Living ~ Action Now ~ Ada S. McKinley Community Services, Inc. ~ AFSCME Council 31 ~ AFSCME Retirees Chapter 31 ~ AIDS Foundation of Chicago ~ Albany Park Neighborhood Council ~ Allendale Association ~ Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County ~ Alternative Schools Network ~ Alternatives, Inc. ~ Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 ~ Anixter Center ~ Arts Alliance Illinois ~ Bethany for Children & Families ~ Bethel New Life ~ Better Funding for Better Schools Coalition ~ Business and Professional People for the Public Interest ~ Carole Robertson Center for Learning ~ Center for Economic Progress ~ Centers for New Horizons ~ Chestnut Health Systems ~ Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation ~ Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness ~ Chicago Chapter Coalition of Labor Union Women ~ Chicago Coalition for the Homeless ~ Chicago Coalition of Site Administered Child Care Programs~ Chicago Democratic Socialists of America ~ Chicago Jobs Council ~ Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers ~ Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network ~ Children's Home + Aid ~ ChildServ ~ Citizen Action/Illinois ~ Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European and Latino Immigrants of Illinois ~ Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois ~ Community Behavioral Healthcare Association ~ Community Counseling Center of Northern Madison County ~ Community Health Partnership of Illinois ~ Community Renewal Society ~ Connections for Abused Women and their Children ~ Cornerstone Services, Inc. ~ Counseling Center of Lake View ~ Deborah’s Place ~ Delta Center, Inc. ~ ED-RED (Education - Research - Development) ~ 8th Day Center for Justice ~ El Valor Corporation ~ Emergency Fund ~ Equip for Equality ~ Erie Neighborhood House ~ Esperanza Community Services ~ Families’ and Children’s Aids Network ~ Family Focus ~ FEATHERFIST ~ Federation for Community Schools ~ FITE Center for Independent Living ~ Gads Hill Center ~ Good News Community Kitchen ~ Good Shepherd Center ~ Grassroots Collaborative ~ Greene County Health Department ~ Grow Your Own Illinois ~ Health and Disability Advocates ~ Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights ~ Hesed House/PADS, Inc. ~ HMPRG Center for Long Term Care Reform ~ Home of Life M.B. Church ~ Housing Action Illinois ~ Housing Opportunities for Women ~ Housing Options of Evanston ~ ICIRR ~ IFF ~ Illinois Action for Children ~ Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention ~ Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans ~ Illinois Assistive Technology Program ~ Illinois Association for Gifted Children ~ Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies ~ Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. ~ Illinois Association of School Nurses ~ Illinois Association of School Social Workers ~ Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities, Inc. ~ Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health ~ Illinois Center for Violence Prevention ~ Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights ~ Illinois Education Association ~ Illinois Federation of Teachers ~ Illinois Library Association ~ Illinois Library Systems Director's Organization ~ Illinois Maternal & Child Health Coalition ~ Illinois Network of Centers for Independent Living ~Illinois Valley Center for Independent Living ~ IMPACT CIL ~ INCCRRA ~ ~ Inspiration Corporation ~ Interdependent Living Solutions Center ~ Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs ~Jacksonville Area Center for Independent Living ~ Jane Addams Hull House Association ~ Jewish Council on Urban Affairs ~Lake County Center for Independent Living ~ Lake County Housing Action Coalition ~ Lakeside Community Development Corporation ~ Large Unit District Association ~ Latino Consortium ~ Latino Organization of the Southwest ~ Latino Policy Forum ~ League of Women Voters Illinois ~League of Women Voters of Wheaton, IL ~ Legislative Education Network of DuPage ~ Lewis & Clark Library System ~ Liberated Inc. ~ LIFE Center for Independent Living ~ Lifelink Corporation ~ LINC INC ~ Logan Square Neighborhood Association ~ Lutheran Advocacy-Illinois ~ Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois ~ Lutheran Social Services of Illinois ~ Madison County Continuum of Care ~ Marillac Social Center ~ McHenry Co. Latino Coalition ~ Mujeres Latinas en Acción ~ NAMI Illinois ~ NAMI of Greater Chicago ~ National Association of Social Workers Illinois Chapter ~ New Foundation Center, Inc. ~ North Suburban Teachers Union (IFT/AFT Local 1274)~ North Suburban Library System ~ Northwest Neighborhood Federation ~ Older Women's League (OWL) ~ OWL Northeast Chicago Chapter ~ Opportunities for Access ~ Ordinary People NFP ~ Ounce of Prevention Fund ~PACE, Inc. Center for Independent Living ~ Peace and Justice Committee ~ Pediatric Aids Chicago Prevention Initiative ~ Planned Parenthood of Illinois ~Polish American Association ~ Prevention First ~ Project IRENE ~ Project Oz ~ Protestants for the Common Good ~ Proveedores en Acción para Nuestros Niños ~ ~Renaissance Women ~ Rosecrance Health Network ~ Safer Foundation ~ St. Vincent De Paul Center ~ Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law ~ SEIU Healthcare Illinois and Indiana ~ SEIU Illinois Council ~ Self Advocacy Council of Northern Illinois ~ Society of the Holy Child Jesus ~ South Asian Progressive Action Collective ~ South Cooperative Organization for Public Education ~ SouthSTAR Services ~ Springfield Center for Independent Living ~ Statewide Independent Living Council of Illinois ~ Supporting Illinois Brothers and Sisters ~ Supportive Housing Providers Association ~ TASC, Inc. ~ Test Positive Aware Network ~ The ARC of Illinois ~ The Center ~ The Hope Institute for Children and Families ~ The Night Ministry ~ The Resurrection Project ~ Thresholds ~ Through A Child’s Eyes Pre-K Program ~ UNITE HERE Local 1 ~ United African Organization ~ United Power for Action and Justice ~ Voices for Illinois Children ~ Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living ~ Women Employed ~ Women + Girls Collective Action Network ~ Youth Guidance ~ Youth Network Council ~Youth Organizations Umbrella ~ YWCA Metropolitan Chicago ~ YWCAs Illinois ~ Zion Development Corporation

A perusal of the list clearly suggests the self-interested nature of the call for tax increases as virtually all of the members are tax-exempt 501(c)3 organizations dependent on government largesse.

Old Ben Franklin proferred two foresightful observations on events such as we're seeing today in Springfield:

"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."

and

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

Blame the Gays for Chicago Corruption

There has been much hand-wringing, gnashing of teeth and psychic agonizing at the new lows of Chicago corruption that have been reported over just the past two days.

I am speaking of the revelations that the champion sales tax hiker, Cook County President Todd Stroger, has had an IRS tax lien slapped on his home for a minor memory lapse over a little matter of $12k in federal taxes that seemed to have escaped his, usually laser-like attention.

What racists those IRS bean counters. Why hasn't the teflon Messiah (who endorsed the Toddling) yet sent them back to their Ku Klux Klaverns?

I am also speaking of the sad revelation that openly gay champion, Alderman Tom Tunney, after voting for Daley's new, wild, $4.00 hr. parking meter fee hikes, had one of his key aides outed for producing and displaying on his car a phony "Official City Business" placard, to avoid the distraction of having to feed the meters.

The Tribune splashed this ugly dislosure on their new downsized pages. Homophobia seems to be running wild at Tribune Tower.

Who is to blame for this accelerated spate of Chicago civic corruption?

Who is responsible for this Moscow-apparatchik-styled official duplicity?

Some would blame the knee-jerk Cook County voters who would vote for John Wayne Gacy so long as a big D appeared after his name.

Some would blame black voters from the South and West side plantation wards who give 99.8% of their collective vote to any scoundrel who happens to share their melatonin levels and negroid anthropological features.

I blame the homosexuals.

While walking my dog in the 49th Ward during the 2006 election season, I found a stray handbill on the sidewalk. It was produced by the dreary leftist SEIU government employees union. It urged a vote for the taxin' Toddler, because it said the Republican candidate for County Board President, Tony Peraica, WOULD BAN GAY MARRIAGE IN COOK COUNTY.

Aside from the fact that the Cook County Board President has no more power over that than does the Patriarch of the Albanian Orthodox Church, this was hardly the most pressing issue facing the county electorate in 2006.

The County Hospital was in a shambles.

The County Jail was beginning to resemble the black hole of Calcutta.

The County government was hemmorhaging money faster than the hemophiliac Tsarevich Alexei after a bicycle spill.

And into this context, the ever-predictable lefties at the SEIU injected the pressing matter of marriage for Cook County homosexuals.

Republican Commissioner, Tony Peraica, a serious man, narrowly lost the election to Democrat Todd Stroger, a silly man.

Was it just coincidence that the Boys Town 44th and 43rd Wards turned in 80%+ margins for the Toddler in that election?

Their boy, Todd, then proceeded to ram thru a sales tax hike that elevated Cook County to the highest tax level of any jurisdiction in the nation (while, of course giving dozens of do-nothing 6 figure jobs to friends and family while neglecting to pay his own taxes.)

And then there is Chicago's first openly gay Alderman, Tom "Sticky Buns" Tunney.

He campaigned as an exemplar of reform-minded Lakeshore independence from the corrupt Democrat machine.

The Anne Sather's sticky buns provender then proceeded to join 44 other Aldermanic zombies in rubber stamping Daley's sale of City parking meters, which effected a 400% parking meter fee increase. (Only 5 Aldermen refused to rubber stamp Daley's proposal.)

But just this week, Tunney's trusted aide, an old machine hack named Zodak Younan, was caught by a Tribune photographer with a phony, Word XP concocted, "Official 44th Ward Business" placard on his Lincoln Town Car, so that he could park in metered spots, unharried by the distractions of the meter enforcement Gestapo.

This, of course, triggered howls of outrage from, the poor saps who have been carrying around buckets of quarters to avoid the approbation of the ever-efficient, expired meter monitors.

So the gay community has been instrumental in foisting on us a laughably inept scoundrel as County Board President and a gay, business-as-usual political hack Alderman.

In Chicago, at least, gays really are just like everybody else.

Except, now that they are out of the closet and putting their weight behind crooked Chicago pols, they're not just sticking it to each other anymore.