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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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Supply side worked for me, even indexing for inflation I’m making way more than in the 80’s, unfortunately paying way more in taxes too. Of course a college degree, additional education and being with a company that rewards success all helped. Had I stuck it out as a busboy and didn’t try to advance myself and joined the fight for $15 then I’d be a perfect example that Ralph could use to make his point.
Ironically, like I give the example of frequently here – a single mom with one kid as head of household will pay more in IL state income tax than federal income tax.
But Jabba’s gonna cut her a break, right? and lower her tax rate .05%! Hahaahaha
And the federal tax bill only helped ‘rich’ people, right? Even though this single mom got a huge federal tax cut, so much so that she pays the state more than she pays the feds.
This is an awful article. It’s full of conjecture, assumptions and other wapo style opinions. Where do I even start: “[outside money] that will be spent to convince working stiffs to vote against their own interests and reject the fair tax. ” ~First of all, fair is everyone paying the same. That’s fairness. Fairness is not some pay a higher rate, some pay a lower rate. Secondly, the tone he uses in ‘working stiffs’ is insulting – who is he to tell me what my self interests are? The average working stiff gets a .05% tax cut. Yeah, a measly… Read more »
Sorry. You would not have a chance to speak your mind. I met Ralph Martire at a townhall here in Belvidere a while back debating Mark and tried after the meeting to speak to him. He kept saying to me be quiet or I’m talking or I don’t know what I am talking about when I could get my 2 cents in. Kept talking down to me and a few others as if he is the star in the room. If you check him out on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight same thing there. Everyone is wrong and he is right. I… Read more »
Thanks, Dad.
Martire, Miller, Pritzker, and other ivory tower dwellers will always talk out of both sides of their mouths saying they stand up for the little guy while simultaneously talking down to him if he disagrees.
What I always get a kick from is when the left attacks “trickle down” economics. Nobody has advocated that for 90 years. Perpetual straw man. Haven’t seen anybody advocate it as a reason to opposed the progressive tax.
It’s scary that goofs like this are more interested in political talking points than actual economic theory. This ‘opinion’ piece is literally just talking points, none of which are even relevant to the topic at hand. And then he throws in the racist demagogue comment at the end. This guy is the head of the “Center for Tax and Budget Accountability” whatever that is. Must be funded by Democrats.
Write down the 7.99 percent as the highest tax rate for the progressive state income tax. If the tax becomes law, the IL pols can raise the rates as they please; so, 7.99 percent may eventually end up quite a bit lower than the maximum rate.
Also, the law would assign “higher tax rates to higher levels of income.” You’ll eventually find that your middle-class income is considered among the higher levels, and that 4.95 percent flat rate wasn’t bad after all.
Ralph’s gettin’ angry again.