My Household Budget and Thank You Toni Preckwinkle

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This morning I finished my tracking/evaluation of my household budget for the last six months. While it is not up to the rigorous standards of, say, a CPA it’s a reasonable accounting of income and outgo.

The good news is that in the average month my paycheck covers all the essentials: food, fuel, utilities (basically internet and phone). With periodic bonuses at work and the occasional bit of income on the side I am able to do things like get my vehicles repaired without borrowing and buy work clothes as needed, a small luxury here and there, and so forth. I have also been able to resume saving/planning for retirement.

For those of you following my saga of being plunged into poverty during the Great Recession I guess it’s time for a victory cheer.

But where does Ms. Preckwinkle come into this, you ask?

Ms. Preckwinkle is the president of the Cook County Board in Illinois, and they recently instituted a tax on sweetened beverages that, to put it mildly, is controversial. One result has been residents of said county leaving the country to do their shopping elsewhere. Since the store I work at is in close proximity to that county we have had a sudden upsurge in business.

Why this is relevant to my budget is because at my store our quarterly bonuses are based in part on the sales figures for the store. Which are definitely up. Which means profit for me and mine.

Also, my store recently hired 10 more people to handle the increased customer load, with more planned.

So, thank you, Toni Preckwinkle for employing my neighbors and increasing my own bottom line. I feel bad for your constituents, who are not befitting from said tax, but I’ve gotten to meet a lot of new people, most of them very nice and friendly, and a very nice bonus check out of it.

2

I’m in Kane County and am glad people are driving out of Cook to get their pop. Let people be grownups and make their own nutrition decisions. Besides, I hate the name Preckwinkle.

3

I actually somewhat agreed with a hard core Trumper at work about the tax. I thought it was particularly slimy how they slid the tax through a few days after Trump was elected when no one was paying attention to local politics. Preckwinkle has been scum with her flip flop over the sales tax as well.

4

Do they sell soda at Krazy Kaplans? I like to do all my covert law-evading shopping in one stop.

5

I’m glad things are coming together for you, Broomstick! Mr. Helena grew up in the Chicago area and he always thought Cook county was crazy. I lived in Kane county for about three years. I really miss the flea market at the fairgrounds.

That’s the extent of my valuable contribution. :smiley: But I really am glad things are looking up for you.

6

I don’t think so, and if they do, it will be in one of those small coolers by the checkout.

Come to my store! We not only give away bags (no charge!), we don’t tax the beverages based on sweetness, and we sell fireworks, ammunition, alcohol, and tobacco! Also lottery tickets! One stop shopping after which you can get drunk, blow shit up, shoot the shit, gamble, rot your lungs, and rot your teeth with Mountain Dew!

And thanks for the good wishes Helena.

7

It doesn’t even make any sense as a “sugar tax” since they tax sugar free (sugar substitute) items, too. I mean, if you’re going to pretend it’s for public health, at least make it consistent that way. The public health angle is just a load of horseshit.

I don’t drink a ton of soda or sweetened beverages, so I didn’t really think it would make a difference in my shopping habits, but, surprising myself, when I find myself out of Cook County, I load up on diet soda bottles, since my wife does drink that regularly (and, of course, since it’s around, I end up drinking it, too.) So I really do wonder if the revenue they’re counting on to help their budget shortfall is going to be far less than expected. I mean, I assume the bean counters worked that factor into their revenue estimates, but this tax is so broadly unpopular, that I feel like everyone is trying to buy their soda out of county.

I bet this tax gets repealed, though.

8

Isn’t it one of the time-honored traditions in These United States to cross boundaries to take advantage of fiscal shenanigans and foolishness? I recall as a child our annual car trips from Wisconsin to Missouri. On the way home, my dad would stock up on Missouri cigarettes and my mom would buy Illinois margarine, and as an added bonus, play the punchboards in Iowa.

9

Here’s the catch:

The tax passed with a simple majority of the board. (Actually, it was a tie with Preckwinkle casting the tie-breaking vote.) In order to repeal the tax, they have to pass a new law which Preckwinkle can veto. They would need 2/3 of the board to override.

Plus now Preckwinkle has Progressive Champion Michael Bloomberg (the former New York City mayor) sticking his nose into Cook County business promising to use his personal billions of dollars to support the re-election campaigns of any commissioners who vote against repealing the tax.

The state legislature now has a couple of bills before it to repeal the tax, but if they go anywhere, the governor is sure to veto them in order to tighten the screws on Cook County Democrats.

Fun times. Way to go Broomstick! Enjoy your bonuses. Spend them wisely.

10

Well, THIS quarter my bonus was spent on

  1. new spark plugs for the car (it was time)
  2. new eyeglasses (again, it was time)
  3. new pair of work shoes (the elder of two pairs are no longer repairable)

All terribly practical, alas, but nice to get done without needing to borrow or worry about a week of tight food rations. What’s left is going towards my car insurance which I’m going to pay off for the year in a lump sum, thereby saving about $240 over the course of the year due to the discount for paying in that manner. Again, terribly practical, but right now keeping my situation stable is high priority these days.

OK, I might splurge on a DVD or e-book or two. But that’s about as extravagant as I get these days.

11

I’m not following you here. That doesn’t make any sense to me. Rauner is going to veto an anti-tax bill? It’s generally the Pubbies who are against it (I mean, yeah, almost everyone is against it, but especially the Cook County GOP. At least one of the bills your talking about was introduced by the GOP.)

12

If you get rid of the tax now, in the minds of most voters it’ll just be by-gones by the next election. If you keep the tax in place, they’ll still be mad and opponents can make it an issue.

Of course, you’re right, killing the tax now could make Rauner a hero. But will anyone remember a year from now?
Will other issues be more important by then?

Madigan wants the tax gone now, so that people will forget about it. Rauner is hard-wired to oppose anything Madigan wants.

13

dupe.

14

I still cannot in any universe imagine Rauner vetoing an anti-tax bill. Granted, we do live in Bizzaro times these days, but there is just no way I could see that happening, especially since one of the main one was introduced from his party.

15

Huh, when I was in college 35 years (or so) ago, I occasionally ran with Toni’s husband. Interesting guy. Didn’t think I’d see the name pop up on these message boards.

16

Sure enough.