-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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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This is HILARIOUS! What will be the predictable change in behavior on the part of car owners? They’ll keep their cars longer. I never cease to be amazed at the sheer stupidity of those who work in government. I don’t care if they all have law degrees, every single one of them flunked Econ 101. If you increase the marginal cost of a good or service, you decrease the quantity of it that will clear the market. Raising the tax raised the cost. This will axiomatically exert downward pressure on decisions to trade in a car whose trade-in value is… Read more »
This is truly nickel and diming the tax payer. This is a tax not all tax payers will have to pay and certainly not more than once every few years. But they whack you when they can anyways.
They’d tax the air if they could figure out a way to do so.
How does anyone not see the obvious, that the political establishment in the state is quite literally an extortion racket, AKA an ongoing criminal enterprise?
Just a guess but if more people keep their cars just a year or two longer that means they are not buying new ones. So how much revenue will be lost at the current 6.25% tax? Also how does leasing a car factor into this? More people will probably lease than buy if it it more cost effective. I don’t have this problem because the most valuable asset in my van is the gasoline.
Good analysis. There’s a good chance that this stupid idea will have the net effect of reducing taxes paid. But I’m not astonished at stupid ideas in Springfield. None of the clowns there could understand the Laffer Curve. I’m fond of asking, “what does the government take in taxes if the tax RATE is 0%? Answer is, of course, $0.00. But what does the government take in taxes if the tax RATE is 100%?” Stupid people get a stupid look on their faces. “All of it?” Answer: $0.00. Who would produce ANYTHING if the clowns were just going to rob… Read more »