-- 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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Seems to me that businesses are leaving because they are tired of being shoplifted, burglarized and dealing with unreasonable people that expect everything free and raise a violent tantrum when they don’t get it. And cue the crying re food deserts, no stores, no restaurants, etc. The south and west sides have their self- inflicted reality to deal with since the riots of the 60’s and reinforced by the Kristallnacht of St. Floyd.
Certainly the tax rate on buildings is far too high. Land is a different matter; taxes could be high enough that the selling price of land is very low. As long as there’s a market, and buildings can be constructed without any tax, someone will find a way to profitably use the land.
This might not be sufficient to overcome all the incompetence and overspending that others here have pointed out, but I think it’s an essential component of the solution.
Way way way better than raising the income tax! Or sales tax!
I don’t totally agree with articles author Rudbeck but congrats to him for being FIRST to dare link “disinvestment” in black community to crazy prop taxes. (With majority of prop tax revenue ending up in the pockets of are upper-middle class/ guaranteed deal public sec heroes in return for crappy services)
Actually, here at Wirepoints we’ve been pounding the table about that for some nine years: https://wirepoints.org/suicidal-property-tax-rates-and-the-collapse-of-chicagos-south-suburbs-wp-original/
Yup, absolutely👍👍.
Most of this is due to Ptell. Cook County is under ptell jurisdiction but Chicago is not. As property taxes rise home values decrease which causes taxes to rise again decreasing home values some more and on and on. With Ptell the taxing bodies can get what was levied (not billed or collected) the year before plus 5% or 1/2 of inflation whichever is less. In the meantime all the school districts and taxing bodies received increases in salary and compensation year after year even with declining enrollment. So people abandon the properties and taxes still increase on whomever if… Read more »
The issue is real. However, rather than address the ridiculous levels of government spending (ex. Dolton) or benefits (pensions with 3% auto cola), this author advocates for higher income tax rates. Income taxes at 5% is high enough. Raise them more and watch Chicagoland fall apart at an accelerating rate. They always seem to think people do not have options as to where to live.
You’re right. The loser op-ed didn’t even suggest reducing the size of government to spend less. Just spread the tax onto other people.
Speaking of high taxes I don’t know if you’ve seen the link I posted earlier. The school districts budgets increase every year regardless of enrollment or student achievement. In the short video in the link they discuss on how everything advanced in technology except for the public school system. More money thrown at them with dismal results. Nothing has changed (maybe common core which is a disaster) since the days of disco and leisure suits.
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/who-oversees-public-schools
Very interesting article, all true
Here is a good statistical comparison tool:
https://nces.ed.gov/edfin/search/search_intro.asp
Enter your district name (Rockford SD 205), enter your State, and choose 50 (or your own preference) peers to search and compare on dropdown menu. Hit Search.
You will start on the “Revenue’ page. The top blue bar takes you to different stats pages such as: Expenditures and Characteristics of peer comparisons.