Editorial: Take commuter tax off the table

Another Chicago mayoral election is upon us and so once again the idea of a Chicago commuter tax has sprung to life, like the perennial weed it is.

Attempts to stamp it out with common sense, or poison it by pointing out that Chicago has a lot to lose by taxing nonresident workers, never quite kills it.

The latest candidate to bring this up is Bill Daley, the son and brother of two longtime Chicago mayors. It's kind of surprising this is coming from Daley - considered a pro-business kind of guy his whole life, surely he's aware how discouraging a commuter tax would be to businesses considering locating in downtown Chicago. It's why his brother, Richard M. Daley, wouldn't touch it.

But whether Bill Daley is just throwing out a little red meat to Chicago voters or if a commuter tax is seriously "on the table," as he says, this is a bad idea that needs to be swiftly dismantled.

A commuter tax is bad for business. Moreover, it divides the Chicago area into warring factions when what the region really needs is the free-flowing movement of workers and jobs from the suburbs to the city and vice versa.

There are hundreds of thousands of Chicago residents who work in the suburbs. You can see them at the Rosemont CTA stop each morning, getting off the trains to grab buses heading for the Elk Grove Industrial Park and elsewhere. These are middle- to lower-middle class workers, many of them minorities, who need these jobs, and don't need a tax on their heads. You think suburbs wouldn't turn around and level a reverse-commuter tax if Chicago does it first? Think again.

We understand the knee-jerk appeal of a commuter tax. Inside Chicago it is easy to buy into the assumption that people from outside are using the city's public works, police and fire resources without supporting them.

But, look closer. It's a fallacy to think that suburbanites aren't paying for working in Chicago. There's no direct head tax, true, but their employers or the owners of their business property do pay taxes.

Meanwhile, workers are paying exorbitant fees, plus taxes, and to park downtown if they drive; or they pay to take Metra, the CTA or buses to get to their jobs. They also eat lunch and sometimes dinner in Chicago, they shop and go to entertainment venues in the city. All of which carries taxes.

When Chicago prospers, so do the suburbs. The opposite is also true. Pulling together instead of apart is how we all benefit.