The governor said Illinoisans wouldn’t be interested in a toll increase to keep the Bears. Then he signaled support for what would be the largest passenger toll hike in state history.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in June that Indiana would have to raise tolls and sales taxes to get the Chicago Bears to move there.
Illinoisans wouldn’t want a deal like that, he said.
The irony: Pritzker had already signed legislation authorizing a Chicago-area sales tax increase for transit, and he later defended proposed toll increases that would include the largest passenger hike in state history.
Late last year the governor signed the Chicago-area mass transit bailout bill, which replaced the Regional Transportation Authority with the Northern Illinois Transit Authority and created new funding for CTA, Metra and Pace.
Part of that funding comes from a 0.25 percentage-point increase in the existing RTA sales tax.
The tax is in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. The RTA approved the increase last month, so as of Aug. 1 the higher, Pritzker-approved rates will be:
● 1.25% on general merchandise in Cook County.
● 1.50% on qualifying food, drugs and medical appliances in Cook County.
● 1.0% sales tax on general merchandise and qualifying food, drugs and medical appliances in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will.
Similarly, just two weeks after saying state residents would not want toll increases tied to a Bears deal, Pritzker defended the proposed Illinois Tollway hikes.
The plan would increase the passenger tolls by about 45 cents each, to an average of $1.24. That would be the largest passenger toll hike in state history.
Pritzker is right that Illinoisans do not want higher sales taxes and tolls. They want affordability.
