Message from Lightfoot's budget for Chicago: Move out if you live in the city and avoid visiting if you don't

Michigan Avenue this summer

Chicago's next budget has much to hate. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is blaming the current revenue shortfall on COVID-19, of course she leaves out of her messaging that her draconian lockdown has made it worse. And Beetlejuice's weak response to two rounds of widespread rioting and looting--conducted by many people not wearing masks, has put the nation's third-largest city--for now--into an economic freefall. 

The budget, unusual for Chicago, passed with a small majority in the City Council. 

Among the tax increases are a $94 million property tax increase that comes with automatic annual price of living increases to pay for unfunded pension liabilities. That problem has its roots in the failed 22-year mayorality of Richard M. Daley, who left office in 2011. Daley's successor, Rahm Emanuel, just six years ago signed into law a masssive $750 million property tax hike to pay for--of course--public worker pensions. Emanuel now favors a state constitutional amdendment to remove its pension guarantee clause.

Chicago's gasoline prices are noticeably higher than where I live in suburban Cook County, just as gas is cheaper in the collar counties and Indiana and Wisconsin. Have you ever noticed how few gas stations are near Chicago's borders? I have. Well, Lightfoot's budget includes a three-cent gasoline tax increase. Keep in mind that drivers in Chicago are confronted with omnipresent red-light cameras andpothole- ridden streets.

And that's not all! 

Chicagoans also have to endure speeding-cameras. And the threshold for receiving a ticket from one of them has been lowered to driving just six miles-per-hour over the speed limit.

There is still more to hate!

Shoppers in Chicago have to suffer with a higher sales tax rate than elsewhere in Illinois. And if you find the courage to buy something, such as groceries, you'll have to pay seven cents per plastic bag. 

Oh, murders are way up compared to recent years. Even more so are car jackings. 

Why come to Chicago? Why live there?