STUMP » Articles » Taxing Tuesday: Chicago Wants All The Money » 10 September 2019, 07:41

Where Stu & MP spout off about everything.

Taxing Tuesday: Chicago Wants All The Money  

by

10 September 2019, 07:41

A higher tax on luxury real estate sales is one of Lightfoot’s new revenue solutions

In order to shrink the $838 million budget gap Chicago faces next year, Mayor Lightfoot says she wants to avoid raising property taxes but is committed to taxing pricey home sales at a higher rate.

During her address on Thursday night, the mayor said her administration would be planning a graduated real estate transfer tax.

“This will bring relief to homeowners whose houses sell for under $500,000, while owners with higher-valued homes will pay more of their fair share. We are committed to addressing homelessness and housing instability, and putting real resources toward these problems.” Lightfoot said.
…..
A large portion of the mayor’s speech called on Springfield to help with the pension obligations, which Governor J.B. Pritzker has already said is not an option. Other cities and towns across Illinois have turned to raising property taxes to deal with rising pension costs. The state already has the second-highest property taxes in the nation, and in Chicago many North Side residents are shocked after recent property reassessments.

They need the money.

Here’s Why Cook County’s Property Tax Freeze Might Thaw

Cook County government could end a 25-year-old property tax freeze to generate more money for two of its core missions: public safety and health care.

It’s not something that would be immediate. It wouldn’t happen even in 2020, said Ammar Rizki, the county’s chief financial officer.

But a small property tax increase by capturing the rise in inflation could be among recommendations from an independent commission that helps the county better forecast revenue coming in, said Rizki, who leads the commission.

In an email, a spokesman for County Board President Toni Preckwinkle confirmed she expects the commission “to review this matter in the near future.” Preckwinkle declined an interview request to provide more details.
…..
Cook County Commissioner Dennis Deer, D-Chicago, called tax hikes “kryptonite” at the county health system’s meeting last week when the discussion turned toward how to generate more money. The most reviled Cook County tax hike in recent years was on sugary beverages. Commissioners repealed it after taxpayers revolted.

Mmmm. Good luck with the tax raises.

SALTY NEW YORKERS: CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES

In this piece on people leaving NYC, the SALT cap comes up:

The mass exodus of New Yorkers leaving New York City has hit a record pace.

According to new reports, as many as 277 people are leaving New York City each day, leading all U.S. metro areas, and more than double the number recorded last year.

…..
Between July 2017 and July 2018, New York lost 180,306 people and gained 131,746 new residents. A difference of 48,560 abandoned New York — the biggest decrease of any state in the US.

…..
In total, statewide, 48,500 people left New York, which was one of just nine states to lose population over the previous year – a 0.25 percent decline that leaves the state’s population at approximately 19.5 million people. It is the third straight year that New York has seen a population decrease, according to the Census Bureau.

…..
Cuomo has previously blamed Trump and the federal administration’s new SALT policy that has hurt New Yorkers.

“The federal administration’s SALT policy is an economic civil war that helps red states at the expense of blue states, and we are now seeing the potentially devastating effect of it in the form of significantly lower tax receipts,” he said. “These changes hurt our economy and make New York less competitive, and we will not stop ringing the alarm bell about this punitive policy until Congress reverses it.”

According to Cuomo’s Office, the combined state/local tax rate for high-income New Yorkers is the second-highest in the country. The top one percent of taxpayer accounts for nearly half (46 percent) of State Income Tax liability. More than 95 percent of the tax increase from SALT falls on the top 20% of taxpayers – these taxpayers pay 87 percent of New York income taxes.

Cuomo said that the tax reforms encourage New York’s wealthiest to move to other states, “and even if a small number of high-income taxpayers leave the state, it would harm state revenues” and impact funding for education, healthcare, infrastructure, and a planned middle-class tax cut.

Well, New York controls its own tax levels, doesn’t it.

Choices have consequences, Cuomo.

If you don’t want to take the SALT cap “punishment”, you don’t need to have the state and local taxes so high, do you.

SALT cap zero!

TAX STORIES

Yeah, that last one is why I pushed go on my Yang and UBI item yesterday.

Here is how PBS describes the tax:

Yang plans to give every American adult $1,000 a month in universal basic income, as a way to offset job loss from automation. The first-time presidential candidate proposes paying for the monthly distributions, in large part, by implementing a new 10 percent value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services.

What is a VAT tax?
A VAT is similar to a sales tax or other consumption tax. It’s a percentage of the price that gets added on to the goods and services you buy at the store or online. But the way the tax is collected is different.

In a sales tax, the tax is collected only when a customer buys a product, “whereas, under a value-added tax, the tax is actually collected in stages along the production process,” Kyle Pomerlau, chief economist and vice president of economic analysis at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, told the PBS NewsHour.

….
Who uses a VAT and why?
A total of 168 countries use a VAT as of November 2018, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not. All of the EU countries implement different VAT rates, but they have to be at least 15 percent.

Yeah, I don’t think a federal VAT would stay at 10 percent.

TAX TWEETS

No, he wouldn’t have.

And the reason why… he would not have that wealth there, in that form, in order to be easily taxed.

These people are idiots. There are reasons wealth taxes died in Europe. It wasn’t because they were stupid, or needed “one clever trick!”

See y’all next week!


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