Let me get this straight: Chicago is going to tax my water? So I guess it’s not just what’s currently printed on my paycheck that I am getting taxed on. I thought I as a citizen only pay a state and federal tax? My mortgage bill, I get that, I pay a tax on my land. Yeah, I get that too. But now I am paying a city that I don’t even live in? Same as all of you who are reading this that live in Brookfield.
No wonder why the economy is so bad. Nobody stands up and says anything about it. Watch, our trustees will pass it and everyone will still be wondering why the economy is not getting any better. It’s not getting any better, because of these decision makers in the political process using us to satisfy their needs.
G.J. King
Brookfield
Ed. Note: Just to be clear, the water rate hike being passed on to suburban customers by the city of Chicago isn’t a tax increase per se. It’s an increase in the cost of the water the city is selling to customers. The increase is needed, says the city of Chicago, to improve the aging infrastructure used to deliver the water to suburban customers. It’s like the grocery store raising prices on food items because of higher transportation costs, for example.
As far as a “tax” increase goes, Brookfield water customers, indeed, saw a tax increase in August 2010, when the Brookfield’s board of trustees imposed a permanent 5-percent tax on the cost of all water it delivers to customers in the village. In 2012, that local tax is expected to bring the village an additional $207,000, which can be used to fund general operations.
