A common topic in Illinois has been, for years, the budget and finding ways to balance the ever-growing deficit that the state has racked up; the same is true at the local level, where there also has been no shortage of ideas for how to balance budgets.
At the Jan. 16 Naperville City Council meeting, new methods of raising funds were discussed including increasing taxes on phones and room rentals.
The proposed hotel and motel tax would increase from 4.4 percent to 5.5 percent and the proposed communications tax would increase from 5 percent to 6 percent. Though it may not seem like a big increase, the plan is that implementing these tax hikes would decrease the burden of the $2.1 million property tax increase that was proposed to be enacted in the summer
Councilwoman Rebecca Boyd-Obarski commented on the effect the tax would have on Naperville taxpayers.
"The revenue from the tax increases (telephone and hotel/motel) will be used to fund the city’s operating budget and to avoid raising property taxes," Boyd-Obarski said.
According to Boyd-Obarski, there is a great deal of interest from the Naperville City Council on avoiding an increase in real estate taxes and this would stand to be a good way to do so.
"I do not believe the increases will have a negative effect on businesses," Boyd-Obarski said. "I believe the Naperville taxpayer will be better off overall."
Though the increase in taxes would ease the real estate tax burden, it would not eliminate it, as there will still be $1.6 million to account for which would require an additional cut in spending or more tax hikes in the future.
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