Don't make poor neighborhoods pay higher taxes
The gun lobby has made its most preposterous proposal yet. The Illinois State Rifle Association has written a plan that would penalize high-crime neighborhoods by making them pay higher taxes. ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson says his tax plan would motivate "homeowners and business people in high-tax areas" to "reign in their fellow residents responsible for violent crime."
Obviously Pearson doesn't live in a poor, crime infested neighborhood. If he did, he would know that people don't confront violent criminals out of fear of being the next victims, not out of laziness. He would also know that neighborhoods with the highest crime have the slowest police response time. He would also understand that crime and poverty go hand in hand. Look at the highest crime neighborhoods in Chicago (map on left). They are Washington Park and Fuller Park where the median income is $15,160 and $18,412. It's safe to assume that poverty (along with all its accessories like poor education, few recreational outlets, and lousy nutrition), not low taxes, is at the heart of the crime problem.
Tell Illinois law makers to give the Illinois State Rifle Association tax plan the attention it deserves--NONE!
We the undersigned ask that you dismiss the preposterous plan to overtax the poor in high-crime neighborhoods. The highest crime neighborhoods are, inevitably, the neighborhoods with the most poverty. Poverty is the root of the crime, not low taxes or resident apathy. Believe me, most law-abiding people in poor neighborhoods WISH fervently that they saw a police car more often. The truth is that police are busy giving traffic tickets in wealthy Evanston and letting people get murdered in poverty-stricken Fuller Park. Police need to do their jobs and maintain an active presence in high crime neighborhoods. THAT and better education, nutrition, and recreational opportunities for the poor will reduce the crime rate in Illinois' highest crime areas.
