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.
Or tax services AND lower the overall sales tax rate. Our sales tax rate is high because it only captures a portion of taxable products and services. Make it broader and LOWER the overall rate. I can’t believe so-called business-friendly Crain’s proposed to create a new tax without offsetting it in some way and making us more competitive with surrounding states.