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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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NYT opinion is fake news. They repeat democrat talking points in an authoritative tone as if it’s fact. The article tried to wow! me with ridiculous stats that rich people pay less in tax than poor ones despite the flat tax rate of 5% where everyone pays the same. Ridiculously, instead of substantially lowering the tax rate for poor and middle class folks, they literally throw them crumbs (that’s what .05%, ie 4.90% vs. 4.95%), and then sock it to any household earning over $250,000. What backwards thinking.
Time for one of our regular reminders that we post all viewpoints here, including those we disagree with, like this one.
It’s always good to know what the opposition is thinking.
As my brother the well known economist points out, given that nearly 50 percent pay no taxes (Romney regrets saying this), the system already is highly progressive. Of course, who wants to hear that?
It’s regressive in the sense that the poor pay a larger portion of their income on consumption taxes (sales tax, cell phone usage tax, etc) than rich people do. It’s just a irrelevant talking point because the rich still pay far more tax. The problem, like NY Gov. Mario Cuomo admitted in his speech earlier this year after tax revenues were down $2.3 Billion with a B, is that you can’t just keep taxing the rich, because they leave. He said he was proud of the progressive tax code that taxed the rich but the problem was that the government… Read more »