How many times can we say “Thank You Springfield!”
You worked hard and exacted a compromise, fabulous! I’m just curious about what exactly was compromised? Faced with a transit budget shortfall, the legislature passed an increase in the state sales tax. Was the compromise, downsize the CTA or pass a tax hike? That doesn’t sound like much of a compromise to me. It sounds more like shifting the problem right onto the backs of taxpayers. At least legislators dragged their feet making it at least appear as though they were really working on a solution to the budget woes of the RTA.
According to the Chicago Tribune, about 2,400 CTA employees and 200 Pace drivers and administrative workers would have been laid off had this $560 million tax increase failed to pass. And approximately 160 routes would have been discontinued. That’s 16.25 employees per route! This seems like more of a gift to organized labor than it is for public transportation users.
Taxing is easy, raising taxes isn’t a compromise, it’s a cop-out.
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