Chicago Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) says he thinks he has solved the city’s budget for next year.
“We’ll just add an additional tax on every item that the Cubs sell this season,” Waguespack joked Thursday during a City Club of Chicago panel discussion on the city’s 2017 budget.
“I’ve never seen so many people wearing Cubs gear, not only in Chicago but just nationwide,” the alderman said. “It’s a good thing to see a team doing so well, because it does add to the bottom line. It adds to Chicago’s stature at a time when things are pretty difficult, when we see so much increase in crime and violence throughout our city, that we can have one thing to look at and say this is a good thing.”
Five Chicago aldermen want to surplus funds from a tax increment financing, or TIF, district located in their wards and use the money to help “alleviate the budget crisis” at the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools.