With murder on the rise, Chicago might add a 'violence tax' on guns

With murders in Chicago up 25 percent this year and jails creeping toward capacity, Cook County, Ill., might add a "violence tax" on guns and ammunition. The city faces a $115 million budget gap and county board president Toni Preckwinkle thinks the additional tax could help. The budget shortfall is a big one and gun violence contributes some equally big numbers: The cost of housing their 9,000-plus prisoners is $143 per inmate, per day, while hospital bills for uninsured gunshot victims (and 70 percent of them fall into this category) are more than $52,000. "Clearly [the legislation] wouldn't be popular with the gun lobby but … it is consistent with our commitment to pursuing violence reduction in the city," Preckwinkle's chief of staff said. [Source]

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