Think our taxes are bad? Move to Chicago
If you think taxes in California are too high, consider these observations from a recent trip to Chicago:
▪ Sales tax in Cook County is 10 percent on everything, including food.
▪ All expressways are toll roads. A 30-mile trip, like SLO to Paso Robles or SLO to Santa Maria, has tolls of about $10.
▪ My mother’s house has a market value of less than half of mine, yet her property taxes are 50 percent higher. In Illinois, a house with my house’s market value would have triple the property taxes that I pay.
I am willing to pay 12 cents per gallon more in gasoline taxes if it means our roads will be improved. I prefer this to a high tax state like Illinois.
Jan William Simek, San Luis Obispo
This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Think our taxes are bad? Move to Chicago."