The new statewide sugary drink tax, on top of Cook County’s similar tax and Chicago’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax, would make soda prices in the city skyrocket.

Running out of ideas, the Illinois Senate takes aim at poor people to fund record-high state spending.

To address the city’s worsening financial crises, Chicago politicians turned up the dial on their usual answer to budgetary woes: raising taxes.

For each percentage point drop in the private sector’s share of the state economy, Illinois household incomes fall by over $3,000 on average. Unfortunately for Illinoisans, the private sector’s share of the Illinois economy has dwindled as government’s share – enabled through tax-funded spending – has risen to 25 percent.

In 2016, Chicago and Cook County officials approved new tax and fee hikes that will hit already overburdened residents. A taxpayer bill of rights could prevent politicians from constantly nickel-and-diming residents to make up for budget shortfalls.