Lightfoot to lower the boom on Chicago taxpayers Aug. 29 – Chicago Sun-Times

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is poised to lower the boom on beleaguered Chicago taxpayers on Aug. 29 — by disclosing a shortfall that tops $1 billion — during a prime-time speech that, she hopes, will be carried live by some media outlets.

So far, the new mayor has only described the deficit as “north of” the $740 million acknowledged by Emanuel’s chief financial officer and said there is “no question” she’ll be forced to raise taxes.

She has refused to say more until she had potential solutions to present on the revenue and spending sides.

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nixit
4 years ago

Hello, City Worker. May I introduce you to Mr. Furlough?

Tom Paine's Ghost
4 years ago

The only answer is for Lightfoot to finally gut AFSCAME, CTU and SEIU and declare Chicago bankruptcy. The sooner the better. Anything else is simply delaying the inevitable. The math is inexorable.

joe blow
4 years ago

I’ve got my popcorn ready for this one

DantheMan
4 years ago

I wonder if Ms. Socialist Mayor will even mention layoffs, wage freezes, or wage cuts. That’s what the private sector does routinely when facing a bad balance sheet. The more likely scenario is more fees, taxes, and borrowing if she can find something of value the city hasn’t already used for collateral.

Rick
4 years ago

Chicago property taxes are relatively low compared to many suburbs, she has lots of room to raise property taxes in a relative sense.

Bob out of here
4 years ago
Reply to  Rick

One of the things people overlook is the fact condos are taxed significantly less than SFH’s as a percentage of value. Condos pay 1.3%, where SFH’s pay 2.1%. Just equalizing that would bring significant relief to homeowners. Condo owners call the same police and firemen, drive to work on the same roads, and send their kids to the same schools. Yet they pay a lot less even though they use the same amount of city resources.

Willowglen
4 years ago

Practically speaking, isn’t the only material source of incremental revenue – in an amount needed to even come close to covering the budget gap – with substantial property tax increases? Condo owners will be sensitive to property tax increases, as will the property values. Condo dwellers typically have high association fees, and with the poorly run associations, really high fees. This won’t be pretty.

debtsor
4 years ago
Reply to  Willowglen

I’ve heard anecdotally that the condo market is really bad, and some of the realtors I know are saying things are slow too. It seems like the sales figures are reflecting this too,

NB-Chicago
4 years ago

Thank you rahm you for screwing us chicago home owners even wourse than daley..thank you useless press for lappen up all the fake accounting spin….and now rahms a abc news analyst expert??

debtsor
4 years ago

Nonsense. The answer to all her problem is right under her nose. All she needs to do is tax the air we breathe. She can geofence the city and charge a progressive per-breath tax. 20 breaths a minute, pay $2.00 ($3.00 for rich white people, $1.00 for poor POC). The $$$ will just roll in. The mere presence in the city of people will mean they have to pay tax. It’s a win win for everyone.

Freddy
4 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

Considering that according to government standards (6Ft tall and you weigh over 10 lbs) most of us are now obese. So scales ( or weigh stations) should be set up all over and weigh us and we pay tax’s(fines) accordingly. They do it for trucks why not people? Tax bonanza!!! P.S. Tax cholesterol also.

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