Chicago City council approves phone tax increase

[dmcowen674]

7-30-2014

http://wgntv.com/2014/07/30/city-co...rove-fee-increase-on-all-chicago-phone-lines/

Chicago City council approves phone tax increase


Chicago Aldermen voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a fee increase on all phone lines.


Anyone with a mobile or land line phone linked to a Chicago address can expect bills to jump by $16.80 per line per year, or $67.20 a year for a family with four phone lines.


The increase will boost 911 surcharges on wireless phones and landlines by $1.40 — to $3.90 a line — starting Sept. 1. It also increases the tax on prepaid wireless phones by 2 percentage points, to 9 percent, on Oct. 1.


Mayor Emanuel said the increased revenue was needed to help support the pensions of city workers.

 

[dmcowen674]

Chicago will soon be populated by the rich only.

That's one way to stop the gun violence.

 

[nehalem256]

Hell no!

When can we expect a Chicago iPhone Party where people start tossing phones into Lake Michigan in protest?

 

[realibrad]

Mayor Emanuel said the increased revenue was needed to help support the pensions of city workers.

So Dave is anti-cityworkers. He wants to defund their pensions because they are rich fat cats.

Dave is pretty mean.

 

[unokitty]

The mayor, who declined requests for an interview, has faced a tumultuous first term after serving as chief of staff to President Barack Obama. He has presided over the city during its first teachers' strike in 25 years, grappled with a surge in the murder rate in 2012, and pushed for the closure of dozens of schools.

The Chicago Teachers Union continues to spar with Mr. Emanuel. "I'm not looking to make anyone's election year easy at all, especially someone who doesn't want to make our lives easy," President Karen Lewis, who is pushing for a state tax on financial transactions to help close the pension shortfalls, said in a speech last week.

... Mr. Emanuel hasn't yet announced his plan to confront the $600 million in additional payments state law requires the city to start paying into the police and fire pension funds starting in 2016. Reaching a deal with those unions is expected to be even tougher.

Looks like a difficult situation...

Uno

 

[KK]

So Dave is anti-cityworkers. He wants to defund their pensions because they are rich fat cats.

Dave is pretty mean.

Dave hates himself, can you blame him though. Just take one look at him.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

LMAO!!!!!!! yadmrt

 

[glenn1]

I appreciate Chicago trying to handle its pension issues on their own instead of asking the state or feds to bail them out. Other places should learn from them and emulate. That goes for you as well red states.

 

[Phynaz]

Imagine that, tax and spend Democrats. That's never happened before.

 

[Ronstang]

Liberals fuck up pretty much everything they touch and then spend their lives living in denial.

 

[realibrad]

Liberals fuck up pretty much everything they touch and then spend their lives living in denial.

You could replace Liberal with just about every political group.

 

[Phynaz]

Chicago will soon be populated by the rich only.

That's one way to stop the gun violence.

So you blame gun violence on the poor.

 

[Greenman]

Chicago will soon be populated by the rich only.

That's one way to stop the gun violence.

It's also the only way to pay their bills. They are going to have too cut every program and service for the poor, and do everything they can to attract the rich, even give them tax breaks. Won't that be a hoot.

 

[unokitty]

Chicago will soon be populated by the rich only.

That's one way to stop the gun violence.

Neither the rich class nor the poor class is the economic class that is leaving Chicago....

Uno

 

[Matt1970]

McOwned, where do you think all the money for the crap you want from government is supposed to come from?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

McOwned, where do you think all the money for the crap you want from government is supposed to come from?

I don't disagree with that premise, either.

But tell me. Is the use of Magic-Jack linked to a Chicago address?

 

[michal1980]

liberalism on display

 

[Greenman]

When you look at the actual numbers, it's not all that bad. It works out to about $7100 per person, based on a population of roughly 2.71 million. Just double property taxes for a year and the problem is solved.

 

[cubby1223]

Chicago will soon be populated by the rich only.

That's one way to stop the gun violence.

Chicago's problem is the people with money are moving out.

Nice try on commentary, though.

 

[cubby1223]

Moving forward, Chicago will have some very tough decisions to make, do they be the city that caters to wealthy citizens over the poor, or do they risk becoming the next Detroit?

It's not an easy choice. What else can a city do?

The choice is not a city of rich only, it'll be a city that provides less to the poor, or risk becoming a city fully engulfed by poverty.

I don't have a link handy, but it's estimated that approx. 1/3 of all government revenues generated in Illinois is wasted to corruption. All your sales tax, property tax, state income tax, etc., 1/3 of it is wasted. The citizens living in this city and this state can no longer push aside these problems, they must be confronted head-on.

 

[glenn1]

Moving forward, Chicago will have some very tough decisions to make, do they be the city that caters to wealthy citizens over the poor, or do they risk becoming the next Detroit?

It's not an easy choice. What else can a city do?

The choice is not a city of rich only, it'll be a city that provides less to the poor, or risk becoming a city fully engulfed by poverty.

I don't have a link handy, but it's estimated that approx. 1/3 of all government revenues generated in Illinois is wasted to corruption. All your sales tax, property tax, state income tax, etc., 1/3 of it is wasted. The citizens living in this city and this state can no longer push aside these problems, they must be confronted head-on.

So the choice is San Francisco or Detroit? Why is it that other cities seem to be able to cope with the stresses of a large population but others can't? What are places like Raleigh and Salt Lake City doing that Chicago isn't, apart from the obvious higher corruption in Chicago?

 

[Slew Foot]

So the choice is San Francisco or Detroit? Why is it that other cities seem to be able to cope with the stresses of a large population but others can't? What are places like Raleigh and Salt Lake City doing that Chicago isn't, apart from the obvious higher corruption in Chicago?

demographics

 

[cubby1223]

So the choice is San Francisco or Detroit? Why is it that other cities seem to be able to cope with the stresses of a large population but others can't? What are places like Raleigh and Salt Lake City doing that Chicago isn't, apart from the obvious higher corruption in Chicago?

The entire state has been horribly mismanaged by the politicians for decades. The debt didn't magically appear, it grew and grew and grew. And it's reached the point where the debt is overwhelming the city and state's ability to function.

In the past Chicago was a major manufacturing powerhouse particularly with iron and steel products, the city also was the huge meat packing industry of the region. But new technologies have obsoleted those industries. Chicago also was home to many large companies and corporations in the past, largely by being a central location in the country, but communication advancements and international trade have made the coastal cities far better options today.

Chicago is a city that has lost the advantages it had in the past. Combine a stagnant population, stagnant industry growth, with the massive debt due in large part to corruption, the city has huge problems moving forward.

This article here is a great example how Chicago's government is always finding new ways to screw it's citizens. Why people want to leave.