Alderman Floats Downtown 'Driver Tax' For Suburban Residents
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Should suburban drivers who use downtown streets, be forced to pay a special daily fee for the privilege?
The idea is being floated by City Council Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke, who estimates the city could collect $195 million.
"It actually could be in theory a very, very large source of revenue for the city," Burke said
Suburban drivers are stunned. And that's no theory.
"You're joking I know," one driver told CBS 2's Mike Parker. "That is totally unacceptable."
"Even the people who are working? I think that's a little ridiculous," said another.
The idea is just that right now, a gleam in Burke's eye.
It won't be in the mayor's 2016 budget to be revealed tomorrow, but there is plenty to hurt Chicagoan's wallets.
The proposals include:
> Uber and taxi fee increases;
> A charge for residential garbage pickup;
> Taxes on e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products; and
> A $500 million property tax hike.
Council progressives like 22nd Ward Ald. Ricky Munoz want to soften the blow.
"You can build in some rebates for example for homes that are worth less than $400,000. You can build in some rebates for seniors."
Ald. Joe Moore of the 50th Ward said: "It's been pretty clear for some time that the range of choices for the mayor and the city council range from bad to worse."
Moore, in pondering the urban rubble of Chicago's finances, was also talking about, you guessed it, that congestion tax on suburban drivers who venture into the city.