By Mark Weyermuller -
Cook County recently passed a new law requiring all employers to pay a minimum wage of $13.00 an hour by the year 2020. As of today, over 60 villages and towns in the county have voted to "opt out" of this law, which goes into effect July 1st.
This past Tuesday night, the city of Des Plaines voted 6-1 to also opt out of the law. I attended the meeting to hear people speak in an open forum given five minutes each, with about 150 attending. They also voted to opt out of the mandatory five days of sick leave.
There was four hours of public comment from business owners saying the increased labor costs will put them out of business. On the other side, union activists held up several signs saying $13. Many of these people speaking for the increase lived outside of the Des Plaines area.
Illinois Review has been reporting on these meetings throughout Cook County.
The Chicago area has been overwhelmed with new taxes and regulations. Recently a 7 cent per shopping bag tax has been implemented at grocery and other retail stores. Initial reports are immediate drop in sales and customer counts at stores like Jewel. In addition next month, a new soda pop tax of a penny per ounce will go in effect in Cook County. On a side note, I was in Michigan City, Indiana at Walmart where there is only a 7% sales tax on non food products with no tax on regular food items. Chicago has a 10.25 sales tax on all items including food.
In Chicago, I spoke to a grocery store manager yesterday who expects an immediate drop in soda pop sales. He indicated beverage companies have already started planning job layoffs due to expected decreases in sales. The tax will be on products like Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up along with sports drinks like Gatorade and children's juice boxes. Many people feel that spending cuts on government are necessary rather then increased taxes to fund a bloated oversized mismanaged and some say corrupt government.
On Tuesday, June 27, 2017, my village of Wilmette will vote to "opt out" of this minimum wage law. I expect the village to do so as the consequences could be devastating for businesses and taxpayers. Nevertheless, I expect to hear some spirited public comment in that board meeting. See you there.
Mark Weyermuller is a small business person, real estate professional, and conservative activist in Chicago. He is a citizen journalist and regular contributor to Illinois Review. Mark can be heard weekly on the radio in a "man on the street segment" at 10:31pm as a regular guest on the Stephanie Trussell Show heard Sunday nights 9pm-midnight on WLS 890-AM.
