-- 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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Any legislator who votes for a tax increase should be run out of office. We don’t need more revenue. We need more jobs so people have an income to pay taxes on. We need more businesses to pay more taxes. And we need lower expenses. Just look at what happened to the “new” revenues we have had over the last decade. Increased income tax gone. Rahm’s $550 million property tax wasted. Water bottle tax, Netflix tax, parking meter tax– all for nothing.
State pols it impossible to run someone out of office. In the rare case where a legislator has an opponent, the evil leprechaun funnels huge amounts of money to help the candidate of his choosing. There are many races where there is only one candidate listed for an office, so is it any wonder voters are so cynical they don’t bother to show up at the polls?
Found the stats. 10 of 40 Senate races are contested, and only 42 of 118 House races. Pretty pathetic.
Everyone knows we need more revenue. Rauner should have come out of the gates with a 4% income tax and his plan to extend sales tax to some services with no string attached. That would have demonstrated his willingness to increase taxes w/ no ties to his agenda. Then he could have placed a quarter percent value to his main Turnaround agenda points: workers comp reforms, property tax freeze, right-to-work zones. Adopt all 3 and you get 4.75%. Or pick and choose and get something in between. To be honest, if Rauner said Day 1 that the income tax had… Read more »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJG-g04AiLY
Didn’t we try this a couple years ago? Raked in more revenue than ever and fell still further behind. Illinois just spends too much money. Fix that issue and the balanced budget comes inline with reality.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/policy-points/illinois-temporary-tax-hike-18-billion-later/
Instead of characterizing the Turnaround Agenda as anti-union, they should characterize it as pro-taxpayer. Taxpayers are the only ones that don’t have advocates because we don’t pour thousands of dollars into campaign coffers. (Although we do indirectly since government union employees are paid by taxpayers.)