Tax Heaven

The name itself, Rolling Meadows, is redolent of Elysium. For its taxpayers, Rolling Meadows, Ill., is heaven: the city property tax has been abolished. The small (pop. 19,000) Chicago suburb is a beneficiary of an Illinois law that allows municipalities to collect a portion of state sales tax on goods billed within the community. With the $1.2 million collected each year on the sales of products of such corporate neighbors as Western Electric and Hallicrafters, which have sales offices there, Rolling Meadows does better than make ends meet.

The city has put its policemen in air-conditioned patrol cars, abated $115,000 in municipal library taxes, built a $350,000 addition to its city hall and started work on a $5,000,000 program for water-system improvements. But the most unusual advancement is one of the country's finest fleets of garbage trucks: four Mercedes-Benz trash haulers that cost $23,000 each. Can Rolls-Royce buses be far behind?

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