Don't use the PEOPLES money wisely.....

That would be silly. INSTEAD tax the living CRAP out of them in any way possible.

Mayor Daley (DEMOCRAT) is a bottled water guzzler who's often seen hydrating after heated news conferences. He's also an avowed environmentalist who's determined to make Chicago the "greenest city in America."

Tuesday, the environment won the internal conflict. Daley all but endorsed a proposal by one of his staunchest City Council supporters to slap a tax of anywhere from 10 to 25 cents on the cost of every bottle of water sold in Chicago.

"Money-wise, it's a good idea. Environmental-wise, it's a good idea, too....There's so much plastic in our lives. It's amazing. Every time you look, there's plastic all over," Daley said Tuesday.

Asked whether it was fair to punish people for following doctors' advice to stay hydrated, the mayor said, "Well, it all depends what effect you're having upon the environment -- not just upon their body, but upon the environment."

At a news conference to announce another cabinet shakeup, newly appointed Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna said she's not concerned that a bottled water tax would discourage the healthy habit.

"The bottom line is, we want people to drink water and we have some of the best water in the United States that you just turn on in your tap....There are a lot of different ways to hydrate," she said.

Concerned that the tax debate may be going too far, Daley jumped in to rescue Malec-McKenna.

"We're not going to have a headline that, the first day, everybody announces a tax on bottled water. You're not going to get that headline," he said.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier this week that Ald. George Cardenas (12th) wanted to tax bottled water to reduce landfill costs, encourage consumers to drink tap water and close a $217.7 million budget gap.

The International Bottled Water Association responded by saying that what would be a first-in-the-nation tax unfairly singles out the bottled water industry for a much larger environmental problem caused by packaging of all kinds. Association President Joseph Doss also warned that the added cost might force consumers to "make a less healthy choice."

Bottled water has been under siege from environmentalists across the country. Oil is used to make and transport plastic bottles. Empty bottles fill municipal landfills.

Earlier this year, San Francisco and Los Angeles jump-started the campaign against a drink that has come to epitomize good health -- by banning non-emergency city purchases of bottled water. Ann Arbor, Mich., followed suit.

New York is encouraging a return to tap water in a "Get Your Fill" campaign that offers consumers who agree to boycott plastic water bottles a free stainless steel container to fill at the tap.

In 1992, the Chicago City Council slapped a penny-a-can tax on soda pop as part of a smorgasbord of new revenues designed to cut Daley's $48.7 million property tax increase in half. The pop tax, which generated nearly $11 million last year, now stands at 3 percent of gross receipts on cans and bottles and 9 percent for fountain soda.

A bottled water tax would likely be far more lucrative. Last year, Illinois ranked No. 7 in the country for bottled water consumption -- with every resident drinking an average of 21 gallons. That amounted to a 48 percent increase over five years.

What a joke. Just tax and spend the money that the Citizens give you. Brilliant!