Local: New restaurant tax is hard to swallow
Posted in Local with tags Caterpillar, HRA, Museum, taxes on November 22, 2008 by Billy DennisNow that Gov. Rod Blagojevich has given his permission, the Peoria County Board is going to have to decide whether to let taxpayers decide whether to tax restaurants to raise money to build the downtown museum.
My two cents: This was supposed to be built with private donations. But the people who have the money to toss at this project have voted no, but not donating enough of their money.
So, they are trying to do what all democracies do: Let the majority of voters decide whether everyone ought to pay for this thing, whether they want to or not.
If successful, it will work like the City of Peoria’s Hotel, Restaurant and Amusement Tax works. Every time someone goes into a restaurant to buy a Happy Meal or something off the Dollar Menu, some portion of what they pay is going to go toward paying for this project.
And here’s the funny thing about the HRA tax. It was sold to taxpayers as a way to BUILD the Peoria Civic Center. Those original bonds have long been paid off. The tax is still there, of course, being used to pay for countless renovations as well as propping up other economic development schemes. It will never go away, because the PCC will never be self sufficient. It will always require taxpayer support, giving lie to the assertions is helps build Peoria’s economy.
So in addition to having a situation in which little old ladies, single mothers and homeless people pay to support events at the Peoria Civic Center they cannot afford to attend, they also will have to pay for a a museum project that’s being driven by Caterpillar’s desire for a museum to accompany it’s own attached welcoming center.
But there’s no doubt that the County Board will put this on the referendum, because I doubt the there’s a majority of the board with the testicular fortitude to say “no” to Caterpillar. And no doubt Caterpillar surrogates will spend the following months predicting that Caterpillar will pull up stakes and move elsewhere is the vote fails.
That’s the way things work in Peoria.
Feh.
