The True Joy* of the Democrat Party

The difference in those tax rates is driven by the more than 30 different city-imposed taxes (and a host of other fees), as of October 2015, which Chicagoans must pay besides the property tax.

• Amusement tax (5 percent or 9 percent of charges for amusement)
• Amusement tax – subscribers to paid television programming (9 percent of television programming costs)
• Boat-mooring tax (7 percent docking or mooring fees)
• Bottled-water tax (5 cents per bottle)
• Chicago share of the state income tax (distributed by the state)
• Cigarette tax ($1.18 per pack)
• Electricity infrastructure maintenance fee (usage schedule starting with 0.53 cents per kilowatt hour)
• Electricity use tax (usage schedule starting with 0.61 cents per kilowatt hour)
• Emergency telephone system surcharge – landline ($3.90 per month)
• Emergency telephone system surcharge – wireless ($3.90 per month)
• Foreign fire-insurance tax (2 percent of taxable premiums)
• Fountain-soft-drink tax (9 percent of syrup price)
• Gas use tax (6.2 cents per therm on businesses that purchase gas from sellers not subject to either distributor or reseller occupation taxes)
• Ground-transportation tax (varies, including $78 per month for city cabs, $3 per day for noncity cabs)
• Home-rule retailers’ occupation (sales) tax (1 percent on food and drugs; 2.25 percent on general items)
• Hotel-accommodations tax (5.58 percent of gross rental charge, includes municipal-level tax)
• Liquor tax ($0.29 per gallon of beer, $0.36 to $2.68 per gallon of liquor depending on alcohol content)
• Motor-vehicle lessor tax ($2.75 per vehicle per rental period)
• Nonretail transfer-of-motor-vehicles tax (based on schedule of age of vehicle, from $10 to $80)
• Occupation tax – natural-gas distributor and reseller (8 percent of receipts)
• Off-track-betting tax (1 percent of wagers plus $1 on off-track-betting admissions)
• Parking tax (22 percent for daily parking, 20 percent for daily parking on weekends, 20 percent valet parking)
• Personal-property-lease transaction tax (9 percent of receipts or charges)
• Personal-property replacement tax (distributed by state, 2.5 percent on corporate income, 1.5 percent on partnerships, trusts and S corporations)
• Real-property transfer tax ($5.25 per each $500 of transfer price)
• Restaurant tax (0.25 percent of retail price in addition to sales tax)
• Soft-drink tax (3 percent of price)
• Telecommunications tax (7 percent of receipts or charges)
• Tire fee ($1 for each new tire sold)
• Use tax for nontitled personal property (1 percent, except for first $2,500 each year)
• Use tax for titled personal property (1.25 percent)
• Vehicle fuel tax (5 cents per gallon)
• Wheel tax ($85.97 annually for small passenger automobile; $136.54 annually for large passenger vehicle)

They all add up. In 2014, the city collected more than $1,280 per person in various nonproperty taxes and fees. 

·         Source:  https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicagoans-the-most-taxed-residents-in-illinois-paying-more-than-30-city-taxes/  ....worth reading perhaps if one is interested in what living in one place costs for some of the above versus perhaps an alternative living choice….   

             

* …by True Joy we simply mean...what one gets for what one pays…and how often and obvious they are reminded of what they are paying.   If interested, here’s more:  https://wgntv.com/2018/06/21/city-of-chicago-doesnt-know-how-many-fees-it-has-on-the-books-inspector-general-says/