Preckwinkle says she has votes for hotel tax hike business calls a job killer

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Monday she has the nine votes she needs to impose a 1-percent hotel tax and plans to forge ahead with a Friday roll call, despite concerns the new levy would kill Chicago's convention and tourism industry.

Preckwinkle said she and Mayor Rahm Emanuel "don't always agree." But she does share the mayor's view that a Chicago hotel industry in the midst of a construction boom is resilient enough to withstand that 1-percent, $31 million-a-year tax - even though it would bring the total hotel room tax to a whopping 17.4 percent. That's compared to 12 percent for Las Vegas and 12.5 percent for Orlando, Chicago's two biggest rivals for convention business.

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