-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Many bottled water purchases are being made online, allowing Chicago consumers to dodge the city’s five-cents a bottle tax. Thursday, the City Council’s Finance Committee agreed to close that legal loophole along with the one that has allowed online liquor buyers to dodge the city’s sliding scale of liquor taxes.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Buyers try to avoid a tax? no way!