Taxes Approved

In case you weren't watching the city council meeting last night or missed it in the papers, council approved all three proposed new taxes and extended an already existing motor fuel tax. That last one shows the problems with setting a sunset date on taxes in general. The taxing body gets used to the money coming in from the tax and finds it easier to extend it rather than deal with the reduction in revenue that allowing the tax to expire would cause.  It was truly a rare case when the income tax increase that Illinois passed a couple of years ago was allowed to expire and Democrats pushed, and are still pushing, for the tax to be reinstated because, after all, no-one ever wants to cut services that benefit them. No major programs in the state have been cut. Those that have, like work camps, social service programs for the poor, and prisons, affect only comparatively powerless groups or specific regions.