Counties consider 1% tax hikes
(The Center Square) – Voters in at least three Illinois counties are considering sales tax referendums.
Sales taxes would go up 1% in Adams, Lake and Tazewell counties if voters approve the schools facilities tax measure on the November ballot.
Megan McCombs, Democratic candidate for Tazewell County board, said she 100% supports the 1% tax increase.
“This has the potential to help reduce the increases on property taxes, since not only do the residents of Tazewell County pay into this, but so does anyone visiting our county,” McCombs said in a statement to The Center Square.
McCombs said Tazewell County residents are already paying the tax in surrounding counties.
Adams County Republicans oppose the 1% tax.
“We are in a state in which we are taxed into oblivion, and this is just another tax on top of all of the other taxes,” Adams County GOP precinct committeeperson Roni Quinn told The Center Square.
The Quincy Public Schools website includes a Quincy Together page with campaign information about the proposed tax.
The campaign includes a future ballot issue asking voters if existing property tax dollars used for building payments could instead go to the education fund.
“Are there taxpayer dollars being used to fund this campaign, and are these public schools crossing a line by promoting ballot measures or getting involved in elections?” Quinn said.
Quinn said the campaign supporting the referendum used school databases to send emails to all parents and used school buildings for meeting places.
“We should not be using taxpayer funded resources, aka the schools, to promote ballot measures,” Quinn said.
The QPS site said about 60% of the estimated sales tax revenue would come from consumers who live outside Adams County.
Morton School District 709 said on its site nearly 60% of the revenue would come visitors and commuters in Tazewell County, for an estimated total of $22 million per year.
On Oct. 2, the Illinois Policy Institute sent cease-and-desist letters to 17 school districts in Tazewell County, alleging that school boards appeared to have authorized the use of public funds to urge voter support of the referendum.
“Because we believe the Board’s conduct constitutes illegal election interference in violation of the Illinois Election Code, we are writing to alert you to your obligations under the Election Code and demand that you cease and desist from engaging in any further conduct constituting election interference,” wrote IPI Vice President of Policy and Litigation Mailee Smith.
On Oct. 5, Americans for Prosperity Illinois asked Attorney General Kwame Raoul and state’s attorneys in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties to investigate whether 24 local taxing bodies used taxpayer resources to campaign for more taxpayer money.
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