Chicago Gets Highest Sales Tax in US

CHICAGO -- Among the things Chicago wants to be known for, having the highest total sales taxes of any major U.S. city is probably not one of them.

But that's what it's getting after the Cook County Board voted Saturday to double the county sales tax to 1.75 percent. When added to the city's sales tax, the county' increase has the cumulative effect of setting a 10.25 percent sales tax on goods bought in Chicago.

When the county rate increase takes effect in November, someone buying $100 worth of merchandise in Chicago would pay $110.25.

The rates in New York and Los Angeles are below 8.5 percent. The next highest rate in the country is in Memphis, Tenn., at 9.25 percent.

The tax increase is expected to add about $426 million annually to county coffers, and the money is meant to close a projected $234 million deficit. The budget is also designed to create more than 1,000 new county jobs.

"By passing this budget, the board has breathed life into this county government," Board President Todd Stroger said. The budget passed on a 10-7 vote.

Those who opposed the increase say reform, not revenue, should have been priority No. 1.

"The real elephant in the room is the waste and bloat and bureaucracy here in the county," said Timothy Schneider, a county commissioner.