Chicago's Cook County OKs gun tax to defray costs of violence

[glacierbay]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/03/us-usa-guns-chicago-tax-idUSBRE8A201O20121103

By Mary Wisniewski

CHICAGO | Fri Nov 2, 2012 9:06pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The county that includes Chicago approved a tax on firearms on Friday to help pay healthcare costs from gun violence, making it what is believed to be the first major U.S. metropolitan area to enact such a levy as a form of gun control.

The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted 9-7 to impose a $25 tax on each firearm sold. The tax is expected to raise $600,000 in revenue in 2013.

With the vote, the nation's third most populous county, with nearly 5.2 million residents, becomes the first large U.S. jurisdiction to approve such a measure, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said.

"We want to highlight this issue of gun violence and we also want to add to our resources to address it," Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle told reporters on Friday

So instead of addressing the real issue, Cook County decides to punish law abiding gun owners who have nothing to do with those shootings.

[Eleanors38]

1. Merely the way of orthodox prohibitionist policy...

A clear violation of the XXIV Am

endment, and the public's pocketbook when they pay out for another lost lawsuit.

[glacierbay]

2. I suspect this might be some payback

for McDonald v Chicago. I wouldn't put it past Cook County pols. to do something like this for revenge.

[Eleanors38]

3. Revenge and payOUT by taxpayers.

[glacierbay]

4. Yep

they never learn.

[krispos42]

5. A $25 tax on students that don't graduate high school would be more accurate...

...and raise more money.

[DonP]

6. "Defray the costs" Ha!!! Stupid is as stupid does I guess

Even Preckwinkle says they only expect to get around $600,000 in "new tax revenues" from the 5 remaining Cook County gun stores.

In the same breath, she commits $2 million from the budget to fund "anti violence" organizations like Illinois Against Handgun Violence, an offshoot of Brady.

Can some gun control supporter help me with that math? How do you "defray medical expenses" when you give out over 3 times what you THINK you'll take in to gun grabbers?

The short answer is her revenue will drop precipitously and this has nothing to do with "defraying costs".

Right now, she gets from $80 to $100 in sales tax on average (10.5% in Cook County) on every gun sale, few as that may be with only 5 stores. Now we will all just drive a mile or two and buy it cheaper in Will, Kane, Lake or any other collar county and Cook County will get $0. But she'll still give the gun grabbers $2 million in tax money.

But driving out gun stores is what this is all about anyway. Daley drove them all out of the city and now she's driving them out of the County.

Of course Daley/Rahm are paying a lot of tax money in legal fees for doing that now and so will she when the tax goes into effect next April. I may offer Alan Gura free room and board when he comes to town, just to watch the show this will create.

Then we can have a good laugh as we have all the gun control fans here ranting about how Gura was just taking tax money away from the teachers and firemen.

[friendly_iconoclast]

7. "Can some gun control supporter help me with that math?" They'll studiously avoid this, it's too...

...stupid even for most of them. The one that might have reacted favorably is barred from the Gungeon.

[Simo 1939_1940]

8. So we'll be seeing a lot more of these, eh?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117254772#post7

[glacierbay]

9. They just never learn do they? nt.

[DonP]

10. Daley, Rahm, Nutter and the rest of the unindicted (so far) MAIG group

It's not like it's their money anyway, right?

They can just keep raising property and other taxes to fund their unconstitutional agendas.

[glacierbay]

11. Ya know

Al Capone could have learned lessons from these pols.

[Remmah2]

12. Why don't they put a $25 tax on bongs and rolling papers?

nt

[ileus]

13. The need an illegal drug tax...oh wait...uh...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

14. This will only hurt Cook County firearms dealers

For $25, I'd just drive to Lake or Dupage county, buy the gun there.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. All 5 remaining stores?

[DonP]

16. Well, we've had people here that say "fuck 'em, they sell death spewers" anyway

Most of the 5 remaining stores will probably close down before the end of the year.

When several of the Illinois based gun manufacturers, like Les Baer and a few others, moved across the river from Geneseo Illinois to Iowa, we had the gun grabbers here applauding joyfully. A lot of skilled union machinists changed their votes after that fiasco. After all they're all just death merchants that should get good legitimate jobs, right?

Most of these stores are small, privately owned family stores that can't afford relocation. They'll lay off their employees, a dozen or so per store, who will just become an unemployment statistic and some people on this board, that claim they support the "working man", will ignore their own hypocrisy.

The only saving grace is most of those posters hide up in Meta whining like a truck with a bad transmission and only come down here to spew an stupid post or two, then when questioned or countered, run back up to talk about how this groups should be banned so they can replace it with an ignorant echo chamber for their ranting.

[oneshooter]

17. You have to understand the thinking of those that will applaud the closing of those stores.

Those store owners are all part of the 1%, who will close the businesses to avoid paying a legitimate tax on their products. They refuse to move as that will cut into the huge profit they make in Cook County, and since they are not unionized they can abuse their workers by letting them go without warning or severance pay.

I really don't know if this is or not.