In suburban communities on the Cook County border, the county’s huge sales tax burden has businesspeople worried. Local officials and businesspeople in Palatine, Illinois are so angered that the village government has seriously broached the idea of seceding from Cook County.
On April 30, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger was scheduled to hold a meeting at a community college in Palatine to try to quell the anger.
Mindy Phillips, director of the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce, said Stroger should have no problem understanding the anger.
“After the Cook County sales tax hits us July 1, the Palatine retail sales tax will be at 10 percent,” Phillips said. “It will be 7 percent in Deerfield [in Lake County], 7.25 percent in Bloomingdale, and 6.75 percent in Oak Brook [both in DuPage County]. Our retailers expect to lose sales to other counties.”
— Steve Stanek
