The over taxed residents of Cook County, IL have taken another blow to the gullet.  The city behind the tax greedy Mayor Richard Daly (as in how can I increase taxes DAILY) has rammed legislation through the Aldermen creating a tax on bottled water.  Bottled water?  The nefarious practice of hiding new taxes in everyday purchases needs to be exposed.

When you go to the local grocery store or purchase a new vehicle (which is what I do for a living) the seller is required to total the purchase price and then show how much you are paying in taxes.  In Illinois, when you purchase a car we print and have you sign a form disclosing the dollar amount you pay in taxes.  Same is true when you buy groceries or furniture.  When I buy gas or bottled water or cigarettes or alcohol they hide the fact that you are paying extra taxes for these purchases.  The government forces the manufacturer to build the tax into the price of the commodity thus shifting the responsibility for the excessive price from the government imposing the tax to the maker of the product.  There needs to be disclosure so we can be outraged at the right people. 

Gov Doyle of Wisconsin recently tried to impose a new tax on gas.  Gov Doyle promised this would be a tax on the producers of gas and Gov Doyle would oversee the price of gas at the pumps to insure this new governmental money grab would not be passed on to the consumer.  So unlike all the other hidden taxes the government covertly imposes on us this one would truly be shouldered by the manufacturers.  In business, when the cost of raw materials increases (I hazard to guess that companies view these extra taxes as a cost of doing business) the business does not "eat" that cost but passes it on to the consumer.  So too when these buried taxes are applied to businesses they pass them on to us and we as consumers bear the higher cost.  We allow this to happen.  We elect these imperious, holier than thou, can't touch us fools to run the government.  We have no one to blame but ourselves.  Like lamb we accept this.  We say and do nothing to stop them.

How many Aldermen are there in Chicago supposedly representing the wants and wishes of the millions of residents of Chicago?  The Aldermen, the Congressmen, the Senators, any and all politicians are looking out for their best interests - not ours.  Stop stealing our money.  It is mine.  I know how to manage it better than some useless drain on society like a life long politician.  Politicians were never meant to hold life long positions in government.  They were to go and do their duty as citizens of the U.S.A. and then return to civilian life.  We need to help these money grabbing thieves to return to normal life. 

Dan