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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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Connecticut’s biggest change was in 2011 when the $10K-500K 5% bracket morphed into: 5% = $10K-50K 5.5% = $50K-100K 6% = $100K-200K 6.5% = $200K-250K Anyone who thinks Illinois’ proposed $100K-250K bracket won’t morph into this is incredibly naive. Furthermore, adjusted for inflation, this is what those brackets should look like in today’s dollars but do not because, just like Illinois’ proposal, there is no inflation indexing built in to CT’s tax code: 5% = $11,600 – 58,000 5.5% = $58,000 – 116,000 6% = $116,000 – 233,000 6.5% = $233,000 – 290,000 Or today’s brackets expressed in 2011 dollars:… Read more »
Almost a sure bet the progressive tax will not pass reason being that by the time this gets on the ballot all these new taxes implemented will be fresh on the minds and pocketbooks of voters. Higher gas taxes/renewal fees/sin taxes and many more in the pipeline will have voters outraged by next year. I’m sure the Gov will dangle property tax reform in our faces to try to persuade us to vote in favor and it would have to be quite a reduction(like 50% written in stone and no school taxes for seniors) for me to maybe vote yes.… Read more »
They can’t really raise the flat tax much more. At some point they will just stop funding the pensions or fund them so low that they collapse fairly quickly. I think they know at some point the pensions are toast, but they won’t admit it until they have to.
If the progressive tax doesn’t pass, I think they have at least one more flat tax rate increase they’ll push. The justifications will be: 1) they need the extra revenue, and 2) at least one other state has a higher flat tax rate. For point #1, they need the extra revenue, but they need to get it by lowering salaries, pensions, and health care benefits, not by raising taxes, of course.