Kevin Bae

Non-Social in a Socially Networked World

Chicago is so flush with cash it can provide Guaranteed Basic Income to residents

Some genius Chicago aldermen have the brilliant idea to provide a “Guaranteed Basic Income” to city residents.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas, Alderwoman Maria Hadden and Alderwoman Sophia King introduced the resolution to the Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development of the Chicago City Council.

“Distributing cash directly to Chicago families would transform life for millions of Chicagoans for generations to come,” Villegas said.

ABC 7 Chicago

The schools that gave them diplomas should be shut down for educational malpractice because these people cannot perform basic addition and subtraction.

The people of the City of Chicago would have to tax each and every taxpayer $41,100.00 in order to eliminate the city’s current debt burden of $36 billion. Hmmm. That’s a little more than the $37,103.00 per capita income according to the U.S. Census. I think it’s gonna be a little difficult to pay that off.

Chicago ranked next-to-last and was labeled a “sinkhole city” in Truth in Accounting’s latest report, “Financial State of the Cities.” The rankings of the nation’s 75 largest cities reflect financial data prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, showing how poorly positioned major cities such as Chicago were for a financial disaster.

The report found Chicago’s net debt – or the amount of money needed to pay its bills after accounting for everything the city owns – was $36.4 billion. That represents a per-taxpayer burden of $41,100, meaning each taxpayer would need to send that amount to the city in order for Chicago to eliminate its debt, earning the city an F for fiscal health. Chicago’s debt per taxpayer increased by $4,000 from the previous year and is 5.5 times the average burden of $7,355 per taxpayer across all 75 cities.

Only New York was in worse shape, with a whopping $68,200 taxpayer burden on $186.7 billion in net debt.

illinoispolicy.org

I lived in the Chicago area for 53 years. I relocated partially because Illinois and Cook County have crushing public pension debts. The debt is so large that the only way out is to tax the bejeezus out of people because the government refuses to do anything to reign in pensions.

Calls for a pension amendment continue to grow louder in Illinois, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker has remained silent on the topic since incorrectly claiming in his budget address last year that an amendment is prohibited by the contracts clause in the U.S. Constitution.

illinoispolicy.org

But wait… there’s more! Chicagoans are also responsible for the state’s pension debt. So each Chicagoan needs to add $52,000 ON TOP of the $41,100 in order to eliminate their debt burden. That’s three times their per capita median income. Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it.

Chicagoans should also know the city debt is not their only liability. Every Illinois taxpayer also owes $52,000to pay all the State of Illinois’ debts, Truth in Accounting reported in September. The $41,100 Chicago debt is on top of the state debt.

illinoispolicy.org
Image by Rilsonav from Pixabay

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