CHICAGO: Asian American Store Owner Association (AASOA) and Illinois beverage association organized a protest against Cook County sweeten beverage tax. More than 609 people joined the protest including representatives of Asian American Retailers Association ( AARA) and also 7/11 franchise owners.
Cook county board of commissioners passed a law recently with 8 (YES) vote out of 16 total for Sweeten beverage tax whereas the president of Cook County caste Yes which gave them majority. There are 8 commissioners who are not in favor of this tax.
Nirav Patel the president of AASOA Midwest said, “This is unethical decision of Cook County commissioners”. It will put many people out of business. Also it will add $25-$30 extra per residents in Cook County every month which obviously is lot, for lower and middle class family.
Ken Patel from 7/11 says their margins are already very low in business and now this extra tax will kill their business. Eventually there will be no tax payers left in Cook County to collect tax. Many people are moving out of Cook County.
Joy Shah from AASOA says county need to re- think about this decision and they have to take public opinion which they have not even thought about. People will not elect those commissioners who voted yes in this tax increase.
Bharat Thakkar from AARA asked Cook County president to come and accept the public signed petition of (over 40000) but she made it out that, she was busy in other meeting. “We waited long but no one came. Then finally some random person came from the president’s office and accepted the petitions,” said Nirav Patel
Meanwhile, the Soda tax law got changed in the court of law on the ground that it is unconstitutional and discriminatory. The Circuit court Judge Daniel Kubasiak in a ruling have the implementation stalled for a while with an interim restraining order that goes into effect from July 1. It is a moot point how long this order will remain in force but for sure it has temporarily given relief to the retailers.
Ramesh Soparawala
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