Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
23 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
I laughed at the very first sentence lauding the “independent” analysts at the rating agencies. As Wirepoints has pointed out before, rating agencies are paid by the City, hope to get more business, and know darn well that they won’t get future work with negative comments. To determine just how “independent ” these folks are, it might be helpful to know how many millions of dollars the City, School Board, Park District and Public Building Commission have paid them over the years. I’ll bet the rating agencies have millions of reasons to be so nice.
Lightfoot’s office issued a one-word statement: Suckers!
1. How can Chicago, with its huge and ever-increasing debt, get affirmative credit ratings?
2. If I’m a Chicago property owner, I don’t care about Chicago’s credit rating. I care about whether my next tax bill jumped another 5-10 percent. If it did, I’d strongly consider moving out of Chicago, even though I’d take a hit due to my property depreciating in recent years. It’s called cutting your losses.
to answer #1 – promises of massive tax hikes, fees, and nickle and dimes pried from your already nearly empty pockets