instead of raising my taxes, why don't you go out and buy an SUV and build a three-car garage like mine?

Business sends SOS to state about RTA
More mass transit funds urged, tax on gas suggested

If the Illinois General Assembly does not act immediately to reform and refinance the region's mass transit system, the Chicago area's economic health will be jeopardized, according to an influential group of business leaders.

The state must give the Regional Transportation Authority the power to raise additional revenue, including increasing the sales tax and levying a gasoline tax of up to 5 percent per gallon, the business-backed civic group Chicago Metropolis 2020 said.

"This is a group of business people standing up and saying, 'We're willing to push for additional taxes, including a gas tax.' This is very significant," said George Ranney Jr., Chicago Metropolis' president and CEO.
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The RTA is asking the state to fill a current shortfall of $226 million and to provide $400 million annually for operations. In addition, $10 billion is needed over the next five years for capital improvements.

Unless the legislature acts by July 1, the RTA said, the CTA, Metra and Pace will begin considering fare hikes and service cuts (Red Line will now run backwards).

Chicago Metropolis' plan proposes seven funding options, including an RTA-imposed gas tax of up to 5 percent.

The plan also proposes an increase the RTA sales tax to 1.25 percent from 1 percent in the CTA service area, and an increase in each of the collar counties from the current quarter percent to at least one-half percent.

But with gasoline prices well over $3 a gallon, Chicago Metropolis' gas tax proposal "could not have come at a worse time," said David Schulz, director of the Infrastructure Technology Institute at Northwestern University.