Tax Tyrany
Friday, 15 February 2008 by Jacob TomawBen Joravsky has another of his great articles on how taxes work in Cook County.
Daley controls that. He does so because in our infinite wisdom, we voters have made it clear that we’re comfortable with a relatively benign brand of tyranny where one man controls everything. And I mean everything. Through board appointments and endorsements of elected officials, the mayor oversees the schools, parks, city services, and even to an extent the county—he virtually handpicked Todd Stroger to be president, and his brother John is chairman of the board’s finance committee. And of course he controls the city’s budget.
Nothing new. He Honor is trying to hide the fact that he is the reason taxes are going up.
Joravsky details some amazing increases. (We got our tax bills for the first half, last week.) I thought our taxes are high, but some people have had amazing increases in iffy hoods.
He closes with what is a sad truth about how statist culture changes people.
I used to think that once average Chicagoans got hit with big tax hikes they’d finally rise up against their leaders. But now I’m starting to think they’re too bewildered to fight back. As some aldermen are always telling me, if you keep the people dumb, they’re easier to control. In this respect, Mayor Daley’s press conference on assessments was a step in the right direction.