Meeks, Shut Up
- Sen. James Meeks, the South Side minister who has been the state's most outspoken advocate of an income tax increase for the past seven years.
Meeks supports raising the income tax so that the state will adequately fund education. In particular, he wants to end the over-reliance on property taxes for school funding that shortchanges students in poorer communities such as some of those he represents in the south suburbs.
In the process, Meeks had also hoped to use a big chunk of the money from an income tax increase to provide direct property tax relief.
This from a so-called "man of god" who threatened to run for governor for months unless Blago coughed up $4 BILLION for schools that have already had billion thrown at them and have continued to fail to educate children. We'd call that political extortion.
And we also can't wait to see how many companies begin to move their corporate headquarters out of Illinois. This is going to go down just like Daley's Bottled Water Tax. Everyone started shopping for water out in the suburbs as soon as that little item passed and it's collecting hundreds of thousand less than projected, leading to more shortfalls. Quinn's budget claims the corporate tax increases will generate an additional $350 million of so... until those corporations start relocating to Indiana and Wisconsin to avoid the tax hikes.
And they're going to take jobs with them.
And we also can't wait to see how many companies begin to move their corporate headquarters out of Illinois. This is going to go down just like Daley's Bottled Water Tax. Everyone started shopping for water out in the suburbs as soon as that little item passed and it's collecting hundreds of thousand less than projected, leading to more shortfalls. Quinn's budget claims the corporate tax increases will generate an additional $350 million of so... until those corporations start relocating to Indiana and Wisconsin to avoid the tax hikes.
And they're going to take jobs with them.
Labels: state politics
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
25 Comments:
One question. How many of Meeks' supporters actually pay taxes?
It's easy to be a proponent of something that doesn't negatively affect you.
I'm filming a story about this and will be posting very soon. There's a major life-altering situation going on in my neighborhood and nobody is covering the story. Stay tuned.
cook county prices
bottled water = $1.30
cigarettes = ~$10.00 (starting 01apr)
Gasoline = 2.19/gal
Dupage/Lake county prices
bottled water = 1.00
cigarettes = 4.50
gasoline = 1.95/gal
shit, for smokes and gas it's worth the 20 minute drive. I'll even stop for a burger, as I won't be paying Chicago's 11.5% restaurant tax.
My property tax went up 1500 bucks this year and they're raising it again next year.. .all while my house decreased dramatically in value. income tax will be taking another 1.5% of our money. I'm going to need a 4% raise just to pay all the extra fucking taxes.
Meeks said that Illinois is 49 out of 50 in state funding for schools. This is only partially true. Hawaii and D.C. are also on that list and can't really be counted. Illinois' OVERALL spending is about right in the middle-figure in cost of living and Illinois spends more than most of the world in TOTAL spending per student. The 2 biggest expenses in the states budget are for healthcare and education. The less affluent communities kick in a lower amount of local funding, sometimes as low as 30%-the difference is made up in state and federal funds. So, if you live in a middle class neighborhood your school is being mostly supported by your local funds like property taxes AND you are subsidizing schools with low local funding. Chicago kids get more than most of the state (double in some cases) and still post lower scores than the schools with half the funding. Part of the problem is higher administrative salary and union rules about hiring teachers out of field. Check out the Illinois interactive report cards.
Why did he send his kid to Mt. Carmel?
This clown supports any tax increase because he doesn't pay any.
Begin to move corporate HQs out of Chicago?? SCC - have you been asleep the laat decade??? There already has been an exodus.
Did you know that Chicago was the retail capital of the country with more retail HQs here? Alden's, Carson Pirie Scott, Sears, Montgomery Wards, Speigels, Marshall Fields, Polk Bros., Wieboldts, --- I could go on with other industry segments but you get the point. Banking ? How many headquarters lost? Manufacturing?
Between moves and mergers Chicago has lost many HQs (Amoco, Ameritech, First Chicago, Continental Bank, etc.)
And some of the old line companies like the Chicago Tribune are breathing their last gasp.
No companies. No jobs. No tax base. No raises for you. This is an economic Tsunami that hasn't hit gov't workers ---------------- yet. But I see it on the horizon.
Meeks is an idiot!! I am sick of hearing about how property taxes for school funding shortchanges students in "poorer communities." Meeks, for the last time, Chicago public schools in these "poor communties" get millions of dollars in federal funding. Federal funds are distributed based on income. Public schools in communities where people actually pay their property taxes get no federal funding because there is no low income students. These schools solely rely on state income taxes, that the parents pay by living in the community. These are the real schools that are underfunded and rely on parents to raise funds to support the school, that's why we have PTAs. When was the last time you saw a school in the ghetto form a PTA??
Meeks, guess what? No matter how much money, computers, books and supplies these schools in "poorer communities" get they will never suceed. Why?? Because the parents DO NOT REALLY CARE!!! Money will not solve the real problem!!
-A Pissed off PTA mom and PO wife.
D.C. is not a state- why would it be on a list of fifty states? I think you need to read the list again.
start having the department of revenue write parking tickets on vehicles at the Meeks church that do not have city vehicle stickers
One question. How many of Meeks' supporters actually pay taxes?
It's easy to be a proponent of something that doesn't negatively affect you.
___________________________
That's exactly the problem. The majority of his supporters are jobless noismakers. They don't have jobs and more importantly they have no desire to work. That leaves them plenty of time to get drunk on the link they sold and bitch about how the government, society and lets not forget the police have mistreated them. He wants to attribute problems in education because of the lack of funding. He should start with the absence in parenting. Look at high schools like Marshall High school that have a day care center attached to the school so the kids can have someone babysit their kid for free while they sit and school and not learn. Who's paying for that? Sounds like misallocation of funds that could be put towards education to me.
The larger companies may have the opportunity to move out of state, but smaller companies have to remain. What eneds up happening is that smaller companies have to remain revenue nuetral and look to lay off to make up cash to pay higher corporate taxes. That being said, unemployment costs increase with more people on the rolls; more people may face foreclosure due to losing their jobs; sales tax revenue decreases as the newly unemployed have less, if any, money to spend. In the end, this will turn out to be a bad plan.
It won’t be Wisconsin. Was talking to the folks who own that Watersports in Lake Delton WI last year, they didn’t have much to do without a lake. Anyway seems their governor is of the same Blago/Daley mold, tax them to death. Seems that state is a sanctuary state too, the spent millions to help illegals buy homes, they even had them do it without a SSN, they helped them get a TIN, anyway when jobs got scarce they just packed up and left, if I heard it right, the state is picking up some of the bill on that brilliant thought… I say IN will be in the running for the big exodus…
By the way, real estate is going for about .50 on the dollar just outside of the Dells.
Here's a good idea. Let's keep throwing money at our problems and eventually they will go away. Big brother has it all figured out.
Meeks, seperation of church and state. Have you heard of this crazy concept? Check it out. Your pulpit isn't a soapbox for furthering your political agenda. Racism? You bet. Every Tom, Dick and Harry Whitebread are afraid to take action against the pious brutha Meeks. It's all a fucking joke and we are the punch line.
Laugh it up folks, we're about to get our asses handed to us. One Meeks at a time.
I make a motion that the township of Jefferson secede from the City.
Let Meeks, Ike, Phleger,Jackson et al be the Idi Amins of their respective cesspools with their own treasuries. They would be bartering dried cow dung cakes for use as fuel within a week.
Does the "reverand" meeks still have on duty P.O.s directing traffic at his church on sundays.
Anonymous said...
One question. How many of Meeks' supporters actually pay taxes?
It's easy to be a proponent of something that doesn't negatively affect you.
3/20/2009 12:06:00 AM
Easy question to answer his constituency zero.
Anonymous said...
Why did he send his kid to Mt. Carmel?
3/20/2009 02:33:00 AM
Did Meeks child get free tuition?
o/t, but.....word has it that the city is going to take all previously offered contract pay raises off of the table....
He went to Mt. Carmel for one reason. They don't have an entrance exam.
For a so called education activist, Meeks' record is slim:
http://www.eagle3.american.edu/~vp3601a/gospeltoday/web-content/12_F.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2059574/posts
What did Meeks do about education between 1974 (Harper High School Graduate) and 2003 (defeated then State Senator William Shaw). How could a so called education activist be silent for almost thirty years?
In the "Little House on the Prairie" era, how did poor White, Black (including slaves) and Native American kids become educated with little or no money, using the Bible, pencils, tablets, chalkboards and pails as their "technology"?
http://www.littlehouseonprairie.com/season1/episode-9-the-school-mom.html
Today, kids have money and technology, but know much less than "Little House..." kids. Rev. Meeks, what can you say about that?
"D.C. is not a state- why would it be on a list of fifty states? I think you need to read the list again."
That was my point-Meeks is saying that Illinois is 49th in state funding. This is sort of true on the list by the U.S. Census. However, D. C. (which is not a state) is on the list and Hawaii (which has a fundamentally different system) are on the list so it's sort of not a true statement. Is that clearer?
On the same list, Illinois ranks about the middle in TOTAL funds and near the top when cost of living adjustments are made. This puts CPS students at the top WORLDWIDE-not just nation or state wide.
State funds are based on poverty level, ESL, and special needs. So a middle class community pays for its schools mostly through local funds, with low amounts of state and federal funds while a poorer school is funded primarily with state and federal funds and a lower amount of local funds.
I hope this clears thing up. If anyone is interested , look at the U. S. Census releases, the NCES website and the Illinois Interactive Report cards.
I have an idea....lets all move out of Chicago and we won't have to pay for public schools. What will Meeks and his boys do then? Maybe better yet, maybe we all move out of Illinois and again ask Meeks and his boys what will they do then? Montana sounds sweeter and sweeter every day!
"I have an idea....lets all move out of Chicago and we won't have to pay for public schools. What will Meeks and his boys do then? Maybe better yet, maybe we all move out of Illinois and again ask Meeks and his boys what will they do then? Montana sounds sweeter and sweeter every day!"
The best way not to pay for Chicago public schools is to live in Chicago. Cook County is the only county in Illinois that has a tiered property tax system and Chicagoans, for the most part, pay much less in property taxes than their suburban counterparts-even with a higher resale price tag on their property. Again, as noted above, many Chicago schools get a high amount of state and federal funds. Middle-class suburbs basically pay for their own schools and CPS.
Even by moving to Montana you won't escape-again CPS gets a chunk of federal funds-whenever you see state and federal funds you should be thinking taxpayer money. Other states play other parts in supporting Illinois kids. In fact, (I don't know if it is still this way) ALLKIDS, the subsidized health insurance plan, started, in part, with federal funds that were set aside for other states. The other states weren't using them so Blago scooped them up.
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