Merge Chicago into Cook County to solve years of budget shortfalls and higher taxes

Raising taxes to cover debts for Chicago, Cook County & Illinois is a bandaid that pushes the problem down the road. Forcing suburban taxpayers to cover city problems is worse. We need something more

By Ray Hanania

The City of Chicago faces a $982 million budget to cover its basic costs and services to its taxpayers, and it is clear that it has neither the resources to cover that massive spending shortfall on its own nor the will to make its residents and businesses cover the costs themselves.

More than 300,000 Chicagonas have fled the city, most leav…