Posted on 09/21/2015 3:06:12 PM PDT by jazusamo
Chicago already is one of the most expensive cities in the world -- No. 7, according to a report by financial firm UBS.
But the cost of living soon could rise even more, if Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel gets his way.
The Windy City mayor is pushing a $500 million property tax increase, the largest in the city's history, as a way to balance an almost $700 million deficit.
On top of that, surrounding Cook County just raised the sales tax to the highest in the nation, at 10.25 percent, while considering a hodgepodge of other fees. And the state of Illinois faces its own budget crisis, and will likely need to raise taxes to get out of it.
"There is almost a perfect storm of tax increases coming forward in Chicago," said Laurence Msall of the Civic Federation. "And people who live in the city are in a state of shock."
Chicago's financial mess is the result of decades of delaying or ignoring obligations like pension funds for city employees, as well as borrowing to pay for operating expenses and spending more than it had taken in for several years in a row.
Blame it on former Mayor Richard Daley's administration, says Crain's Chicago Business. Emanuel inherited a mess years in the making, though has taken longer than expected to begin to work a way out of it.
"We are certainly now paying the price for bad decisions that have been many years in the making," Crain's reporter Tom Corfman said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Reminds me of California.
Sadly, how many will leave Illinois for greener pastures, taking their liberal voting habits with them?
Nothing like taxing all of your producers into leaving to boost the old economy.
Another day, another “perfect storm” of Liberal “unintended consequences.”
ahhh yes... the joys of the concentrated blessings of socialism
A lot of IL Dems assumed that, of course, Obama would send them free money.
ROFL!!
You’re absolutely right, it’s hilarious and I’m not laughing at you I’m laughing with you.
When I’ve rented a car at O’Hare (which is physically within the City of Chicago), I have paid almost as much in taxes to the city as it cost for the car rental.
Stuck here in DuPage County,once upon a time a bastion of conservatism.
Taxes up and property values down.
Deeper into the article. This could get very ugly.
Government workers = Lazy bums;
the mayor, the government worker teachers, the cops, the water works workers, soup to nuts.
Where else can you put in 30 years and retire at 100/125/150+ % of your salary..
Short-coming retirees bennies??
Raise property taxes!
Home owners sell..
Property values go down.
Rinse, wash, repeat.
DuPage County here, as well. We’re still pretty conservative, all things considered.
Chicago just needs to import some fighting aged muzzy males from islamoville to take care of the pensioners. I think John effing Kerry is already working on it.
Illinois has one of the most egregiously bankrupting public pension schemes in the country, if not THE most bankrupting.
It is this: Say someone works for an organization that does work for the state or local government. That someone has worked for that organization for 30 years. But, he wants a sweetheart pension, at taxpayer expense. What doe she do? He serves as a substitute teacher in a public school for one day. That’s it: ONE DAY! But, because of the sweetheart deal, he gets to apply his 30 years of service with the contractor to his one-day “teaching” experience, and thus qualifies for a very lucrative teacher’s pension based on 30 years tenure. So, not only does he collect his pension from his contracting job, and social security, but also pulls in around six figures for 30 years of teaching credits! The latter wholly at taxpayer expense!
Could not happen to a better place.
There is actually one Republican ward in the city. Out of 50.
Actually, it’s the conservatives who are leaving—I left just over a year ago for Michigan. The roads here suck, comparatively, but everything else is looking up.
I am thinking more along the lines of retired folks going to Arizona, both Carolinas & Florida. My experience has been many of them take their liberal politics to ruin those states as well.
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