Questions: Is increasing taxes the way to go? Is there a danger of chasing residents and business out of the city? What about cutting spending? What about bankruptcy? What about the TIF funds?
Friday, September 4, 2015
Tax Increases
Questions: Is increasing taxes the way to go? Is there a danger of chasing residents and business out of the city? What about cutting spending? What about bankruptcy? What about the TIF funds?
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Don't like the tax increases? MOVE! The graft, corruption, inefficiency, and bullshit has passed the point of no return.
ReplyDelete. Indiana wants me, Lord, I can't go back there
ReplyDeleteI looked at a single block in Gresham. There were six brick bungalows with tax bills less than $450.00 per year.
ReplyDeleteEverybody needs to pay a minimum tax.
And the mayor says the tax increase will be implemented "fairly".
DeleteAnd you could buy 4 of the Gresham Houses for one Mt Greenwood recently built.
DeleteWhat Mike Madigan really wants, he gets.
ReplyDeleteReporters, lawmakers and other political insiders were left rolling their eyes Wednesday night when Madigan claimed to have never pressured anyone to vote a particular way.
It was theater of the absurd.
Madigan rules like a despot.
If someone crosses him, it’s done with trepidation.
That’s why State Rep. Ken Dunkin’s actions were profound.
Madigan needed all 71 of his members to show up Wednesday and vote as one to override a veto of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s. The measure in question was a political gift to organized labor that could take Rauner out of contract negotiations with the state government’s largest union, leaving the big decisions to an unelected arbitrator.
One member was hauled out of a Chicago hospital bed to answer Madigan’s call. Others canceled other plans to make sure they were Springfield.
But not Dunkin, a Chicago Democrat.
In an act of passive resistance, he didn’t show up, leaving Madigan one vote short.
He may as well have stuck his finger in The Speaker’s eye.
And Dunkin’s move may well have emboldened two other members of Madigan’s caucus to defect as well.
So Madigan lost. Big time.
A fissure is developing in his once impregnable wall of obedience.
We saw hints of it last year when Madigan failed to muster enough votes to put a “millionaire tax” on the ballot.
But the Sept. 2 vote stands out because Madigan invested so much of his political capital into engineering a win but instead manufactured a defeat.
Yes, Mike Madigan is still the most powerful politician in Illinois, but last week people began wondering whether the Madigan era is drawing to a close.
Yeah Dunkin really has a pair. When contacted about his no-show he wimped out and said nobody told him about the vote. Let's see how much his balls shrivel up when the legislature goes back in session...and lets see whether he runs for re-election, certainly his district isn't gonna get squat and any bills he introduces will never get out of committee.
DeleteI find it interesting we always have enough money for privatizing city services but not for the working stiff. Aramark, Waste Management, etc all have sweet deals on the tax payer dime.
ReplyDeleteAnd the city pays Aramark, Waste Management, etc on time, but the pension funds don't get paid at all.
DeleteI was talking to some CPS teachers over the holiday weekend. They are hinting that they will be going on strike again!!! Seriously? With so many people struggling to make ends meet you have the nerve to do this again, just a few years after doing so....and winning a 16 percent increase in pay? You are insane and you are led by radical looney birds. And remember this....when you are spouting off to your neighbor telling that person how wronged you are...and they are nodding in agreement....don't be so sure that they really are siding with you. Many are sick to their stomachs having to listen to you bitch when you are making far more than they are. Many have students in CPS and are afraid to say something for fear that there will be repurcussions to their child. Have a nice holiday. I am working.
ReplyDeleteHe spent over $20 million to get re elected so that he could tell us that Chewy lacked "the financial sophistication" to raise property taxes by $500 million
ReplyDeleteA $500 million property tax increase will not be enough to solve Chicago’s $30 billion pension crisis or rid the city of the junk bond rating that has saddled the taxpayers with tens of millions in penalties and borrowing costs, analysts concluded Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteCivic Federation President Laurence Msall and Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics, offered the grim assessment during a lively panel discussion on city finances before a packed house at a City Club of Chicago luncheon.
The title of the discussion was: “Fiscal Cliff: What’s Next for Chicago Finances.”
Fabian’s conclusion was that, as tough as it will be for homeowners and their aldermen to swallow a $500 million property tax increase, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City Council need to bite the bullet even harder.
“I would have preferred to see this as the first of several property tax increases and part of a more aggressive plan. Say, $200 million or $300 million every year for the next three or four years as opposed to one large one because one large tax increase can create political volatility,” Fabian said.