Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, is urging...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, is urging state lawmakers to increase the monthly tax on cellphones from $2.50 to $3.90, said various reports in Chicago area publications (http://bit.ly/1oqwAJr). The move comes as the legislature heads for a scheduled adjournment Saturday. Free-market think tank the Heartland Institute criticized the development. “Mayor Emanuel’s proposed 56 percent increase in the city’s cell phone tax would give Chicago the highest tax of its kind in the nation,” said John Nothdurft, the institute’s director-government relations. “This is the tax equivalent to death by a million cuts. Is it any surprise then that the city has experienced population loss over the last decade?"