SLAP A TAX ON THE TELETRACKS!
It`s an inspired slogan. Even rhymes.
It came to me in a flash last week after I read the sad story about how the City of Chicago will have to close its new central library on Mondays for lack of operating funds.
Then I noticed, right there in the same newspaper, a big color photo of protesters gathered in the rotunda of our state Capitol. They were chanting slogans and carrying signs that urged lawmakers to vote against the legalization of casino gambling in Chicago.
This was no ragtag bunch of malcontents. They were nicely dressed and carried placards that looked to be professionally designed and printed. They even wore big red-on-black metallic buttons that said ”casiNO.”
Turns out those buttons-and much of the other protest paraphernalia-were paid for by the horse-racing industry. The track owners, of course, don`t want competition from a big Chicago casino. It`s no secret they are behind much of the anti-casino ruckus.
And there`s nothing wrong with that. They`re hardly the first industry or special-interest group to outfit a bunch of foot soldiers and bus them to Springfield for a rally. That`s the American Way. You`d have to be as naive as the Better Government Association, the watchdog group that recently
”uncovered” pro-casino lobbying, to think otherwise.
But what, you ask, does any of this have to do with closing Chicago`s new central library on Mondays?
Well, the city needs to raise a little more than a million dollars to keep its new Harold Washington Center open six days a week instead of five. And that`s a problem because all the easy budget cuts have been made, and aldermen are howling over the need to raise property taxes by almost $50 million to cover the essentials. A few have even suggested cutting their own pay. It`s that serious.
More Top Picks Best Monitors For Eye Strain Reduction
So how, in these taxed-out times, can the city find an extra $1 million to keep the library open Mondays?
Answer: Go to the race tracks.
No, I don`t want Mayor Richard Daley to duck down to Hawthorne Race Course and plunk a hundred grand on some 10-to-1 swayback. What I`ve got in mind is a sure bet, a perfect way to put the touch on Arlington`s Richard Duchossois and Sportsman`s Charles ”Stormy” Bidwill … the millionaires behind those casiNO buttons.
Here`s how:
In 1986, the Illinois legislature passed an incentive package designed to encourage Duchossois to rebuild his fire-leveled Arlington Park and inspire other track owners to make improvements. State taxes were lowered on parimutuel betting and each track owner was authorized to build two
”teletrack” betting parlors in communities of their choice.
(Last year the track lobby quietly got the legislature to double that number to four teletracks per racetrack, proving that not everything the track lobby accomplishes in Springfield requires a loud demonstration in the rotunda.)
The track owners have opened three of these betting parlors in the city, with a fourth due to open soon on the Near North Side. I have visited the two downtown parlors (for research purposes, of course) and have placed $2
”show” bets at each, notorious cheapskate that I am. I can report that these teletracks are clean, respectable joints. The food is pretty good, too, and they do a brisk business during the lunch hour. Anyone who thinks gambling in Chicago has to be sleazy ought to pay one a visit.
Anyhow, to encourage municipalities to accept these teletracks, the enabling legislation authorized host cities to charge a $1 admission tax on every patron.
Until now Chicago has refrained from invoking that tax. Every time the subject comes up, track lobbyists descend on City Hall to argue it would cut down on their business, which would hurt the city in the long run. The logic of that escapes me, but I am not an alderman.
I do know there is an old saying in Chicago politics that goes: ”Don`t get mad-get even.”
And watching Mayor Daley these days, I`d say he`s getting powerfully mad about the way the racetrack lobby has been clobbering his casino proposal. The mayor knows Gov. Jim Edgar, a horse lover, would drop his opposition in a minute if the track bosses would drop theirs. But they won`t. They play hardball. That`s the way you win at the ”sport of kings.”
Which brings us back to my inspiration-seven words that would look great on a bumper sticker: SLAP A TAX ON THE TELETRACKS!
City number crunchers figure the admission tax would yield $1.5 million to $2 million a year. That`s not enough to avoid a property tax increase, but it will keep the library open Mondays.
And grateful horse players could check out a book while waiting for the daily double.