Friday, August 30, 2019

From RealClear Politics: Who will Chicago tax if the rich say 'enough'?

The best way of the mess that Chicago--and Illinois--created, is to remove the pension guarantee clause from the state constitution.

More from a RealClear Politics op-ed:
The City of Chicago would like to spend a billion dollars more than it will raise under existing taxes and fees, so Mayor Lori Lightfoot is setting the stage for a tax increase.

Activists, union leaders and others in her coalition have a simple solution: Command the high-income earners to pay more! Their logic is simple: Middle-income folks are taxed too much already, but the very well-off are few, our demands are many and we control the City of Chicago — so make the high-income folks pay our bills!

It’s true that they are outnumbered, that the city can impose taxes one way or another on folks that are outnumbered, and that every tax is a command that residents ignore at their peril.

The flaw in their logic is this: The well-off are free to choose whether to stay and pay or leave — and thereby leave everyone else with the obligation to fund the city’s spending tab instead.
And leave they will.

Others are already bailing. Chicago is the only major American city that consistently has negative population growth every year.

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