Tax increases are wrong for Cook County

Last Wednesday, the Cook County Board passed its 2016 budget, which is balanced by over half a billion dollars in new taxes. I voted NO.

Next year, you will pay more to shop (1 percent sales tax increase raising $474 million annually), and more to stay in a hotel (1 percent tax raising $31 million annually) in Cook County.

Additional taxes on e-cigarettes, an amusement tax on ticket sales and an ammunition tax will drive businesses out of Cook County to open shop in the collar counties.

It is clear to me that people have choices, and as Cook County continues to raise taxes and becomes less competitive and more unfriendly, county residents will simply choose to shop outside of Cook County and convention planners will flee to other less-taxing venues.

As a suburban commissioner representing a district bordering Lake, Kane and DuPage counties, I have seen the retailers relocate and shoppers flee to neighboring counties when we instituted (but later repealed) the Stroger 1 percent sales tax. Now we have chosen to do it all over again, and are driving businesses and jobs out of our county.

Cook County needs to create pro-growth, pro-business policies that drive jobs and businesses into the county. We need to create an environment that drives people into the county to shop, and where we increase our convention business, which will create hundreds and thousands of jobs — and all these folks will pay taxes.

That is how you create more revenue, not by raising taxes. Because at some point, we will all have had enough.

In the last census, Cook County lost 171,000 people. Do we really need to drive more residents out, leaving the remainder to pick up the tab?

Cook County must choose to do more with less — as homeowners, residents and taxpayers have had to do over the last several years.

The 2016 county budget calls for 51 fewer employees. However, more than 700 employees retire and hundreds more leave for other reasons each year.

Do we really need to hire 95 percent of those positions back? Shouldn't we evaluate consolidation of the recorder's, clerk's and treasurer's offices?

County employees pay generally only 1.5 to 2 percent of their salary for health care. Shouldn't we ask for more?

I love to live, work and raise my family in this county. I want future generations of families in Cook County to feel the same way.

• Tim Schneider is a Cook County commissioner from Bartlett and the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.