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The new year brings a hike in taxes on food and drinks at Chicago restaurants. More fees for parking meters and garages. Statewide, more for car registration fees, additional taxes on automobile trade-ins. And Chicago’s new “congestion tax” kicks off on Jan. 6, we will pay the highest ride-hailing tax of any city in the nation.
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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