" How fascinating?
According to Mr. Suits, How else can you get people from outside your county to pay for your school district? In other words, he wants someone else to pay for the things that he should be paying for. I suggest that is a major problem in the United States, wanting someone else to pay. If people and taxing agencies cant live within their means, they will go broke; and we are!
Second, I recall that Illinois promoted the lottery as a means of paying for schools with the implication that taxes would go down. What happened was that OUR government then spent the money that it saved from paying for schools on other things and the cost of government did not go down.
Finally, there appears to be no sunset provision on this proposed tax like there is in Iowa. I conclude that means that my grandchild will still be paying the tax when he is as old as I am.
Thus, because, we want someone else to pay our bill, because there is no assurance that other taxes will be reduced and there is no assurance of a sunset provision, I think this is a bad proposal. "

" The resulting revenue would be distributed to the districts on an enrollment basis, and school officials have pledged to use part of the revenue for property tax relief.

Why not use it all for property tax relief?

Charleston financial consultant David Kuetemeyer added that other facility maintenance projects would come up over the years that would need funding.

Sure, if they had a ton of money they could find something to spend it on!

She said districts can establish citizen committees to monitor the use of the sales tax revenue and make sure the districts keep the pledges they have made.

They need something right now that would make them keep their pledges.

Adding this additional sales tax would be fine if we could be sure they would provide any property tax relief. Knowing these School Boards they would take the extra revenue and leave the property taxes at the levels they are now. That way they would have lots of extra money.

We do not need additional taxes at this time. When you get the chance vote NO! "

" Excellent points, elbert!

Unless a guarantee of property tax reduction is written into the plan, I feel we should vote no. The school boards can say anything they want, and can always come back and say, well we wanted to but things have changed. In Mattoon the board will have to have the money to build that Taj Mahal of a bus garage their planning to park those rented buses in. Mattoon's past school boards don't have a good track record for being honest with the voters, so why should we trust this current board? "

" This sales tax increase would be ok, if the money generated did not go directly into the schools general fund. The funds should go into an endowment type fund and the interest earned on the money would go into the general fund. In time the sales tax and property taxes will go away. In time, the school's entire budget will be generated from interest income. That would insure the reduction in property tax they are calling for and there would be a sunset on the sales tax. 100mil in the fund at 4% = 4mil operating budget "

" BEND OVER, here it comes again.
Tax, oh just tax the poor folk and
now they can't buy clunkers, can't pay for health insurance, just stick it to em again on another TAX. The promise of property tax relief? Believe it when see it, or has HELL FROZEN OVER? "

" First, its being compared to Iowa still?

Now, Champaign did it, we should too?

Lets look at what Champaign did. Election last fall, it failed. They turned right around and stuck it on the next primary ballot, and it barely won?

One of these things is not like the other... I guess its not a 2 out of 3, rock paper scissors, or evens or odds qualifier?

This stuff shouldn't be going on primary ballots in the first place. Champaign canceled their voters at the very next primary, by barely winning with less voters participating? Baffling.

What does this tax tax?

They are completely avoiding that issue like the plage, with their consultant crafted talking points. Champaigns starts Jan 1. Marion Il, in the first county to pass this, of the 3 I know of so far, already started disbursements to school districts, I think. How is that comparing to what was sold, relief, collections, should be showing up if it hasn't already. So more of broader information should start getting clearer, like it or not.

Some kind of business transactions totaling more than 400 million in coles county, is going to cost more than 4 million more, just to do the exact same thing, if this passes. If the folks in those markets, didn't get a combined more than 4 million dollar raise, what is going to happen? If sales in those markets drop by more than 4 million, how might that impact the business sectors? They won't come out and say what is taxed, so we can know if those markets are not going to be impacted by a more than 4 million dollar sifting from the buying potential in them.

I don't remember ever hearing that tourism is a 400 million dollar market here, so the let others help pay for our schools, may really be just us paying another seperate way mostly. Which could be trickle down theory for spend a dollar to save a dime, to many.

What is taxed? Complete list, of what isn't might be shorter. As long as if its taxed and its not on there, its going to cost 1% more applies, so folks can better estimate their own transactions off the list.

It only takes 10k - 20k in taxable spending on who knows what, to completely wipe out that 100 - 200 dollar property tax relief, some may or may not get. If you do more new tax transactions than the ammount of "relief" you get, you will be taxed more, just differently. To actually come out ahead if there is "relief", customers who got them, would have to cut spending on the things that are taxed, or take the spening they would have done here, somewhere else. Some transactions at the cross county mall, shopping toll zone, may be 8.5% sales tax, before any additional other proposed or imposed fees, luxury taxes, or sin taxes.

The provided verbage on that "property tax relief" seems to be wavering even more.

Mattoon and Charleston school districts each run on around 30 million a year. Why is giving them an even bigger allowance, from a shiney new piggy bank, a good idea again?

Next year, school districts will be required to give more detailed compensation and expense reports right on their web sites. Teachers administrators, and certificate holders of all kinds, will be required posting of any and all sallaries, benefits, expenses, and other compensations, right out in the open on the districts web site. Wouldn't most at least want to know those more inclusive details, and have them certified complete and correct, before believing or discounting the poverty pleas, we are cutting to the bone already, coming with their hands out to local taxpayers for the how many-ieth time in the last 30 years. "

" We have asked for property tax relief for years and years and years. I'm voting yes. "

" Unless there is some legal guarantee of property tax relief, you won't see any. And I'm not even sure what kind of legal guarantee they could provide. The property tax relief is a come-on, nothing more. This is a tax increase, and that is what you'll be voting for. "

" " We have asked for property tax relief for years and years and years. I'm voting yes. "

Oh yeah, and I have a bridge I'd like to sell you. "