STUMP » Articles » Show Us the Money! From Somewhere! » 31 March 2016, 05:36

Been seeing a bunch of “better have our money!” types of pieces around. I saw that with the previous post on the CTU’s day of action for this Friday, when talking about “revenue sources” (i.e. taxes) that would probably bring in some dough, but

1. Probably not enough to fill their appetites (what am I saying? Definitely, not probably)

2. Having secondary effects that they really won’t like

Like the money petering off.

OTHER CHICAGO PROTESTORS

In Illinois, we have a variety of protesters wanting money for the universities. I think.

The streets of downtown Chicago were filled with the deafening roar of car horns and chants, as demonstrators protested outside the Palmer House hosting an Illinois Republican Party fundraiser.

The demonstrators were mostly made up of public university students and professors, but were joined by social workers, senior citizens, and social service recipients. This diverse group of protesters, however, sent a unified message of their dissatisfaction with the leadership behind the state’s current budget crisis.
…..

“Hey hey, ho ho, Bruce Rauner has got to go” echoed through the city streets as pedestrians occasionally joined in the chanting. Protesters also sang in unison “Bruce better have my money,” to the tune of Rihanna’ 2015 song “B—- Better Have My Money.”

I am willing to bet that this crowd will show up on April 1 as well.

With a bunch of other people who didn’t vote for Rauner. Would never vote for him. Wouldn’t donate to him. So.

Not that I think Rauner cares.

Why don’t y’all go protest Speaker Madigan? You can actually threaten him with something. Well, if he’d actually lose his seat. Man, he’s had it almost as long as I’ve been alive.

INTERESTING ILLINOIS MONEY SIDENOTE

Didn’t appropriate the funds? Then they can’t get paid.

Court: AFSCME workers not owed raises without appropriation

(AP) — The Illinois Supreme Court ruled today that former Gov. Pat Quinn was correct in 2011 when he denied state workers promised pay raises because lawmakers had not appropriated the money.

The court’s 6-1 decision is another twist in a five-year-old debacle that serves as a subplot to the state’s long-running fiscal crisis. Some workers have gotten their money; thousands more haven’t.

I can see a parallel to not appropriating pension contributions and the pensions not getting paid.

I doubt the Illinois Supreme Court will follow that logic, though.

CONNECTICUT

As much fun as it is for an East Coaster to beat up on Chicago, let me pick up something going on just a few blocks from where I work in the day time. (as opposed to where I work on some evenings)

I heard tell that CT’s revenue got a whack because one of the big taxpayers they’re so dependent on left the state.

State employees demand that there be no layoffs:

Hundreds of unionized state employees rallied Tuesday morning on the north steps of the Capitol, demanding that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislators abandon plans for layoffs and calls for wage and benefit concessions.

The workers, who do various public safety jobs, also insisted that officials levy higher taxes on the wealthy and major corporations to close huge looming deficits in the next two state budgets. Union officials estimated that about 500 workers attended the rally.

“We’re here today to fight back and stand up for what is right and what is fair,” Chuck Della Rocco, president of the union representing judicial and criminal justice security personnel, said. “We’re here to stand up today for the middle class.”

Guys, you’re already too dependent on the wealthy… who are super-mobile. I’m thinking of my relatively rich relatives who used to live in Westport, CT.

They live in Tampa now. Much more affordable.

But wait, there’s a pension angle to this story:

State legislators were expected to vote Tuesday on a plan to close a relatively modest $220 million hole in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. That plan relies on a combination of spending cuts and diversions of resources from off-budget accounts and other one-time sources.

But the problem gets much worse very soon.

Surging retirement benefit costs — a problem driven largely by the state’s failure to properly save for decades — and growth from income tax receipts that is falling well short of expectations are the main causes.

The legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis says there is a $900 million deficit, or about 5 percent, in the preliminary budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. And spending is on pace to exceed revenues by a much larger shortfall, topping $2 billion, in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

….
But with major deficits projected despite those increases, workers at the rally said politicians recognize that past tax hikes have fallen too heavily on the middle class, and that wealthy households and corporations can afford to pay more.

“To continue to blame state employees for misguided spending is very ludicrous, Provost said. “We should all be taxed equally.”

I want to see numbers. I want to see the percentages paid by those wealthy folks.

If you want to try to impose a wealth tax, I guarantee you the take will be very small.

CONNECTICUT DATA

Oh look data.

1. PEOPLE MOVING OUT HAVE MORE INCOME AS A GROUP THAN PEOPLE MOVING IN

It’s virtually always the case that in a given year, people leaving the state [CT] take with them a higher combined income than people moving in, resulting in a net loss of adjusted income. In the data we analyzed, that trend held true in all but one year: 2003.

Tangent: AWESOME YOU LINKED TO YOUR GITHUB I COULD HUG YOU

I will look at some of that data later, which is not only CT (though their code is for CT). Should be a fun dig.

TAX THE RICH UNIVERSITIES!

Another idea for grubbing up dough is to tax Yale’s endowment. The piece I link to has to do with legal arguments, but I believe the political arguments will be such that the CT pols will threaten, Yale throws them some pity cash to make them go away, and they go away for a while:

Yale also makes $8.2 million in “voluntary payments” to the city of New Haven, sponsors full scholarships for New Haven public school students to attend in-state universities, and provides housing subsidies for university employees.

Hey Yale, if you pay the Dane-geld, you’ll never get rid of the Dane.

But perhaps I shouldn’t anticipate. The governor, definitely a leftie, is telling his cash-hungry compatriots to hold their horses.

But a spokesman for Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that he too had no appetite to tax the endowment — a proposal that was subject to a public hearing before the legislature’s finance commitee as the state faces projected deficits in the hundreds of millions dollars this year and next.

“Many proposals are put forward during the legislative session and many stay as just that – proposals,” said Devon Puglia. “We value Yale, the students it educates, the research and innovation it generates, and the neighborhoods it strengthens in New Haven. As the governor has made clear, we don’t believe that new taxes should be part of our solution as Connecticut adjusts to a new economic reality. Instead, we should make the spending reductions necessary for living within our means.”

Well, we’ll see what shakes out. The UConn rage machine is revving up over cuts, but whatever.

NEW YORK

The governor backed down on cutting CUNY funding:

Cuomo Drops Plan for Deep Cut to CUNY
March 28, 2016

Two months after announcing that he would cut $485 million from state funding for the City University of New York, shifting the cost to the city, Governor Andrew Cuomo now says he will fund CUNY’s entire budget.

“The $1.6 billion in aid it receives has not changed, and will not change under this budget,” Jim Malatras, director of state operations, said in a statement. “The funding stays constant.”

Originally, Cuomo had planned to cut one-third of the budget for CUNY’s senior colleges. Now, Malatras is saying that the proposal was a negotiation tactic, according to The New York Times.

Malatras said that the state will hire a management consultant, who will help cut back administrative overhead. The savings, he said, will go toward students. As long as the Legislature accepts the savings plan, there will be no additional costs.

I am skeptical re: the no additional costs.

Something on this from the NY Daily News:

As the state budget moves toward adoption in Albany, it’s opportune to remind New Yorkers of a promise made by one Andrew M. Cuomo on Jan. 14.: “At the end of the day, what you’ll see is it won’t cost New York City a penny.”

The governor was referring to the front page of that morning’s Daily News, which called him out for his proposal to sock the city with $800 million in cuts to Medicaid and City University of New York.

Well, the end of the day is midnight, when the budget bills must be finalized to start the three-day aging process if Cuomo and lawmakers hope to meet the April 1 constitutional deadline.

And there are worrying signs that Cuomo may be reneging on his promise, getting set to punish New York City after all.

Even though the city has no say over Medicaid rates, reimbursements or regulations (all run by Albany), the city’s Medicaid numbers are in better shape than those of other localities around the state.

But only the city has been targeted for cuts.

…..
If the budget deal won’t cost the city a single penny, it had better not wind up costing it 80 billion pennies. Nor can Cuomo get around his pledge by keeping Medicaid and CUNY harmless but siphoning off $200 million from the city’s sales tax for three years, another bad idea in the mix.

Treat the city fairly, gov. You may not like the mayor — but the people are your constituents, too.

Similar to Chicago & Springfield, NYC and Albany do not get along. This has been true in general, no matter whether the mayor of NYC and the governor are of the same party.

I do believe that Pataki & Giuliani got along, but that’s the only pairing where I think it worked.

I think it’s a good thing when the business center and the political center of a state are geographically distant from each other. But you do get these ugly budget showdowns.

Also, both Cuomo and de Blasio are nasty pieces of work and hate each others’ guts. They don’t even bother to hide it.

So here’s looking to April Fool’s Day.

Pols better have our money.

Compilation of Connecticut posts

Compilation of Chicago posts.