-- 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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The SALT deduction limits, along with the other Federal tax law changes did not affect the Federal adjusted gross income on which the Illinois income tax is calculated. Also, the stock market did not do all that well in 2018, so that likely doesn’t explain either why tax revenue exceeded expectations. My guess is that the Pritzker administration got a lot of pushback from its own party on reducing pension contributions, so they manufactured some pretend new revenue that gave them an excuse to back down.
Is our state so inept that they didn’t realize the limit to the SALT deduction would result in a higher AGI that we would be taxed on.