Let's Raise Taxes!
Nothing could possibly make more sense during a recession, right?
Gov. Quinn called today for a one percentage point increase in the state income tax to fund education.
Quinn is asking legislators to raise the income tax to 4 percent from the current 3 percent.
“That 1 percent will be enough to restore our education budget to current levels,” Quinn said in his budget address in Springfield.
A 33% tax hike. For "education."
Won't somebody think of the children?!?
We're pretty sure that school funding has increased every year for the past 20 or more years while actual graduation rates are stagnant or lower than they were during that same time. How about reforming school spending instead?
At any other point in history, this proposal kills Quinn's re-election chances. But Illinois politics is so screwed up and the republicans in such disarray that Quinn is still a viable candidate for election.
Won't somebody think of the children?!?
We're pretty sure that school funding has increased every year for the past 20 or more years while actual graduation rates are stagnant or lower than they were during that same time. How about reforming school spending instead?
At any other point in history, this proposal kills Quinn's re-election chances. But Illinois politics is so screwed up and the republicans in such disarray that Quinn is still a viable candidate for election.
Labels: dumb ideas, state politics
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
70 Comments:
If he had balls and common sense , he'd make the lottery go back to what it was intended for.......raise revenue for education and ONLY THAT !
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn’t the money from the lottery supposed to go towards "education"? Seems if we were able to get into more of that money….
More money thrown into a dismal institution that amounts to little more than a babysitting service for the dregs of society.
What ever happened to the 50% of my property taxes that goes to the schools? And exactly what percentage profit from the Illinois Lottery goes towards this bottomless hole?
I think I speak for the masses when I say that I wouldn't vehemently reject the 1% increase should it be applied fairly - not just in building new schools and adding additional programs in the areas that least deserve same benefits.
Allocation of any additional educational funding should be distributed based on the tax base of where it is to be implemented. For example, those of us that pay 5K a year in property taxes should, in theory, receive funding, new buildings, programs, etcetera, before the non-working, non-taxpaying societal leeches get any kind of upgrades. Likewise, other city services above and beyond basic necessities should be based on the same formula - you get out of it what you put into it.
But no ideas like this will ever grow legs when people continue to not exercise what is perhaps their greatest Constitutional right - to vote. Even the most ignorant, unaware, oblivious bottom feeders make it to a polling place at sometime during their "busy" day to cast their vote. There isn't a single good reason why everyone can't do the same.
Raising Taxes by politicians is the oldest way of balancing budgets. It is "lazy intellectualism".
Ross Peroit was the last politician to suggest what was needed. Manufacturing and exporting. It is the only way to gain actual national wealth. Our founding fathers were big advocates of "made in America". It freed us from Europe when we discovered we could make it ourselves. This was forgotten when companies decided a little more profit was of greater concern that what it meant for national wealth years down the line. We are paying for mistakes stated in the 1980's
.
Vote this tard out!!!!
"Won't somebody think of the children?!?"
LOL! Yes, the children! If you're not supporting this, you're AGAINST THE CHILDREN!
The problem here is there just isn't enough kickback money in schools, like there is in paving, tearing up and repaving roads, building buildings, redecorating offices, vehicle and equipment purchases, janitorial contracts, Millenium Parks, etc.
Register to vote, then VOTE. Show Tricky Dick Daley, One-term-Quinn and the rest of these idiots that we're not going to take it anymore.
VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS! We've got to start with a clean slate.
We must appease the teachers unions. God forbid that you can't properly educate a child at $15,000 a year, which is how much the city public schools average.
My parents paid 4000 a year at a Catholic high school back in the late eighties and I received a very good education
.
what the fuck is all that lottery $$$ used for!
2012 will save us,lets start over!
WoW just in time for RETRO- Thanks Daley/Quinn you got my back and vote
My parents paid 4000 a year at a Catholic high school back in the late eighties and I received a very good education
.
3/11/2010 03:43:00 AM
--
Uh, yeah, and gas was, what, a buck and a half a gallon then? Costs go up.
The bigger question - and ANSWER - is if the percentage of tax remains the same, the percentage of money coming in from the tax should remain the same and there should be enough money to cover expenses.
But, trying to be a parent to all the citizens requires more cash outlay. Continually adding new programs is what's driving the need for additional cash. We don't need expensive studies to study other studies and we don't need triple redundancies in government.
We need to encourage business growth and property ownership, which will broaden the tax BASE. This will bring in more money without raising taxes. Instead, this state drives businesses away and makes property ownership punitive. And this city? It's in a league of its own on those two counts.
how about this...tell all the ''locus people'' to start pitching in. 44% of the people pay no taxes! you pay more taxes because the freeloaders dont pay any. #2 get rid of the tax free church exemptions. its a scam. how many of these ''guys'' have had any real religious training?right.#3 start taxing all the money that is sent/wired out of this country. if they mail it...send it back or confiscate it. SAVE THE CHILDREN! ONLY FOR EDUCATION! typical democrat high drama bullshit. who will pay when the OVERTAXED working people leave this state?
How to fix this mess? Take back education from the hands of the unions and bureaucrats.
Vouchers, now.
My daughter is a 2 YR Teacher in a suburban School District. She just received word that she will be out of a job come next school year. She works with troubled kids and albeit tough, she finds it rewarding. Quinn is commiting Political suicide by cutting education funds. It is hard enough to have these kids succeed as it is ,wait until class size doubles.
Raise taxes for education? Where's the lotto money going? Gee, didn't they say the lottery was going to pay for education?
How about we get all of the superintendents from the school districts around Illinois to give up 40% of their $300K salaries? How much would this save off the bat?
We at least "seemed' to be in a good financial state when Edgar left. We simply roll back the clock to when he left. Toss out all entitlement programs started by Blago. Just cut them out and toss them away. Should save a bundle that way just to start.
Remember when lottery was supposed to fund education years ago?
Didnt he just create a new job for McCotter at a hefty pay amount...why not get rid of Randle and give McCotter the job or make Randle do his job better...and McCotter send our officer back...we need all of them...now
Before giving any more money to education, could we please know where all existing money, both federal and local, is going? I've been taping and re-taping up the same books with duct tape year after year because there is no money to buy new textbooks; our school no longer has a library or a librarian because they just cost too much money (no librarian?! c'mon!!!); and with increasing number of students, i.e. overcrowding, there aren't enough books to go around so teachers are hoarding and hiding books to make sure they have enough for their students. And this is at a school that has gifted programs in academics and the arts, and produces among the highest number of national merit scholars in the state. So before you, Quinn and our moronic and incompetent General Assembly, decide to raise my taxes, please publicly account for all educational funds... who it's being allocated to and more importantly, after being allocated, how it is being utilized.
And lastly, RON HUBERMAN you suck (insert word here as deemed appropriate). You have no business being in CPS, CTA, CPD, etc. How you live with yourself while collecting money that you so wholly do not deserve boggles the mind. You must have given up your conscience along with your soul when making your bargain with the devil.
Typical Dems....instead of creating a tax base, ie, create jobs, thus a tax base, raise taxes. Instead of cutting waste, raise taxes. Instead of of cutting programs that are not needed, raise taxes. They keep on raising taxes and more and more people and businesses will leave the state. Besides, who will pay for these raised taxes? There is no one working!!
When will we hear that all of the politicians take a pay cut? When will they renegotiate the state pensions?! When will the state employees begin to live in the REAL work world? Let them start to show that they can be the example of leadership! Show the people of Illinois that they are serious about OUR welfare and OUR future!
Gov. Quinn...you and Madigan and all the rest haven't done anything!! Nothing! Show us!!
This article screams for the need of a republican adminstration.
I can't stand him, he is always willing to take our money, and let convicts OUT !
Screw QUINN !!!
Give more to schools we can't even send our kids to cause they will be surrounded by animals
When the Honorable, Revrun, Senator, Look out for the little guy, and Humanitarian, Meeks is your biggest horn blower, you know it's time to punt.
Get the fishing poke out Quinn, you gone!
Several years ago, I had to go to the CPS HQ on Pershing road, and got lost walking thru the building.
The place is massive, used to be 5th Army HQ, and yet is too small for our school board.
One thing I did notice is many workers were reading papers, sleeping ( yes, sleeping ), playing games and wasting time. Its nothing but a make work program ( like many other Daley payrol havens ).
I spoke to a teacher at the loacal private school. This mas about 75% less admin people, no warehouses full of usless junk and are progressive.
Lets not raise taxes, lets just clean the place out!
chicagotribune.com
CTA pay for bus drivers is No. 3 in nation
Rate rises to No. 1 when cost of living considered
Jon Hilkevitch
Getting Around
8:03 AM CST, March 8, 2010
At $28.64 an hour, the top wage rate for Chicago Transit Authority bus drivers ranks third-highest among U.S. transit agencies, according to an analysis conducted for the Tribune.
CTA bus drivers trail only their counterparts at two transit agencies operating on opposite coasts. The top hourly salary for bus drivers at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston leads the industry, at $30.18; while the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose, Calif., pays bus operators with the most seniority $28.86 an hour, according to John A. Dash & Associates, a transit research firm in Havertown, Pa.
But the rankings catapult CTA bus drivers to elite status — the highest-paid in the nation — when the cost of living in the Chicago area is compared with the Boston and San Jose markets. That was the case in 2008 as well — before the last two CTA pay raises — when an internal study by the Amalgamated Transit Union, the labor union that represents CTA bus drivers, ranked CTA drivers No. 3 overall in top hourly pay and No. 1 when the Consumer Price Index was taken into account.
I went to Catholic Schools, all of my sibling went to Catholic Schools, my kids go to catholic schools, so why am I paying for public schools?
Kinda off topic but does anyone know why the Federal Department of Education is buying 27 new shotguns for the Chicago office? FBI Truant Taskforce? Special Crossing Guards?
Purchase Request
For all those that are wondering, the lottery profits are directed into the general education fund.
What you may not be aware of is that that money can be earmarked by high ranking members of the legislature for "educational projects" in their districts, e.g. new playground set.
I do not think thata this was the intention when the lottery was first established.
A former lottery employee
Years ago they said the state lottery was for education. What happened?
How about government cuts? At all levels of government do we really still need all these congressmen, senators, aldermen, commissioners,etc.... How about cutting the fat here first.
We are #49 out of 50. The democrats however will still continue to run this state. We are a joke!
"We must appease the teachers unions. God forbid that you can't properly educate a child at $15,000 a year, which is how much the city public schools average.
My parents paid 4000 a year at a Catholic high school back in the late eighties and I received a very good education"
Oh Yes!! It's the teachers fault! Just like its the fault of the police when shitheads murder each other. So by your reasoning, we should only fund the police pension according to crime statistics...right?
Has it ever occurred to you that many of the little darlings in CPS classrooms are THE CHILDREN of the people that you lock up? Would you say that they value education? Would you say that their childs' education is a priority? Do you think they send their kids to school well rested, fed, warmly dressed, with completed homework, eager to begin the day, and admonished to be respectful toward their teachers, fellow students, and school property?
Are there bad teachers? Absolutely. Just like there are really, really bad cops. But teachers, like policeman, have a difficult, demanding job. Teachers, like a police officers, are constantly blamed for societal failings. The public believes that teachers are overpaid and their pensions are overfunded. Just like the public believes that police officers are overpaid and THEIR pensions are overfunded. My point? There are alot of bitter complaints about the police pension. And if you have been following public forums on the net, there is a groundswell of support to gain control of your pension, kiddo.
You might want to rethink your position.
Just sayin'.
>>>Anonymous said...
If he had balls and common sense , he'd make the lottery go back to what it was intended for.......raise revenue for education and ONLY THAT !
3/11/2010 12:11:00 AM<<<
All the Lotery is a Tax on Hope (or Stupidity).
What the Pols did was to bring the Lottery money into Education front and drain money from Education into the common fund out he back door.
And would education be in such dismal condition if we were not a Scantuary State and City for non-productive / non-taxpaying / non-citizens.
Don't let them touch or tax pensions, they will never sap their own Golden Parachutes.
Stay safe, Register and VOTE, Shorty and our Lame Duck Gov are depending on only 25% on less of Chicago Cops voting.
Just pour more money down that black hole we call education.
Should be a federal investigation into where the hell all that money for the lottery is going. It was deemed for education. And you would think that all that money would pay for all the public school stuff. You would think?! And now they are cutting the sports stuff out for sophmores and juniors? WTF? Sickening. Just so much bs.
A 33% increase in the state income tax so we can continue to pay police LTs at UIUC PD $195k base? So we can pay cow herders 74k? And mechanics 90k?
Yeah, let me get right on that!
NOT!
Here's an idea: CUT education funding. Cut administrators. CUT bloated salaries.
HERE IS A GREAT IDEA?
IF U HAVE KIDS U PAY FOR THEM!
IF U WANT TO RAISE CASH BASE THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS COST ON A PARENTS SALARY.
IF U NOTICED EVEN THE STATE COLLEGES ARE STEALING RAISING TUITION BY 20%.
GO TO A COLLEGE SEE HOW MUCH LAND THEY OWN. LOOK IN AND SEE ALL THOSE HD TV'S ALL OVER THE PLACE.
CHECK OUT THE COMPUTERS THEY HAVE.
YEP ALL UR TAX MONEY!!!
This is just another reason that residency needs to be lifted.
Mr. Potato-Head, [Quinn] , is one of the biggest doofis's in the Democ-RAT party, which is hard to be.
Suburban school district 230 (south suburbs ) where I live is considering spending some money for synthetic turf football fields. Whats a couple of million for an UNNECESSARY item in this economy??
Oh and the superintendents of schools get 200k a year or more. Yeah keep raising taxes for the schools!!!! They are broke!!!
Now this is a no brainer, It's 1 penny on the dollar more, who cares, but apparently the Republicans do. my question is remember way back when the Lotto was suppossed to pay for the Schools, Oops I forgot Ryan & Blago gave it to their friends, now Quinn is talking about cutting State Police from the budget. What a ZOO.
Just heard this man talk yesterday at IGOLD (I saw you there SCC, thanks for attending!), He's got our votes!!
http://brady.senategop.net/
like Quinn and the rest of these Imbeciles know anything else, except the lazy-man politicians way of attempting to fix problems. What a bunch of utter failures. Another Great Idea, governor Mr. Potato-Head..
How much administrATION does a school district need?
What the hell does school headquarters actually do? They don't teach!
They close a school, they open a school! That's all I see!
Just this month, TWELVE years after an Executive Summary was written (find link to it below) Kansas City is closing half it's schools after throwing billions at them.
The info. the below link takes you to is extensive but it is well worth skimming.
It outlines the utter folly of Quinn continuing to take Illinois down the same dead end, money down a rat hole road Kansas City has just stopped going down.
Dumping more money in to the CPS is NOT the answer!
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html
Buck Naked
(not a cop)
Someone tell me what the Lottery was for..I thought it was to help fund education??? What is the lottery money used for???
Vote this tard out!!!!
3/11/2010 01:35:00 AM
OK,, But whats a tard?
The Trib had it right- he's holding students 'hostage'. There's enough money for education, but by ensuring the 'envelopes' and kickback projects are passed around first he, Daley and the politicians can then claim poor.
I'm sick of throwing good money after bad.
VOTE OUT EVERY INCUMBENT!!!
Tax and spend is bullshit!
Stop all new construction, fix what we have.
Stop paying the deadbeats!!!
Who in their right mind would vote for this asshole?
It is over !
Soon to be a republican Governor and US senator in Il.
People of all races and creeds have had it with the likes of Quinn, Daley, Madigan, and the villiage idiot Burke.
But Illinois politics is so screwed up and the republicans in such disarray that Quinn is still a viable candidate for election.
_________________________________
SCC,
You hit the nail on the head. On in our great state, county and city.
When they say more money for education, I think of more money for Ron Huberman to spend. How bout more for the reverends on th south side to walk the youngsters to school.
Now this is a no brainer, It's 1 penny on the dollar more, who cares, but apparently the Republicans do. my question is remember way back when the Lotto was suppossed to pay for the Schools, Oops I forgot Ryan & Blago gave it to their friends, now Quinn is talking about cutting State Police from the budget. What a ZOO.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Yes, a penney now for education, later a penney for roads, another penney for hospitals, etc., etc.
Way too much government, way too much waste, take a look at your property tax bill, just look at the huge number of different taxing bodies taking our cash.
Vote this tard out!!!!
3/11/2010 01:35:00 AM
OK,, But whats a tard?
It's short for retard.
Stay safe, Register and VOTE, Shorty and our Lame Duck Gov are depending on only 25% on less of Chicago Cops voting.
3/11/2010 12:44:00 PM
You think they give a shit about our vote? Only 9,000 cops and probably over half of them not registered to vote? Split that half into dumbocrat and republicans and what's left?
You're not as important as you think you are.
Anonymous said...
Vote this tard out!!!!
3/11/2010 01:35:00 AM
OK,, But whats a tard?
It's short for retard.
3/11/2010 11:23:00 PM
-------
I thought it was a typo for turd!
I think Quinn is in his last months as governor. Come election he be gone. Hello Governor Brady. But then Brady might have the tax increase to work with.
CUT SPENDING. There is no need to raise taxes. Too many at the public trough think that the well never runs dry. Well it has in Illinois.
Cut all these fat pensions and administrators making well over six figures.
Any school superintendent making $200K-$350K should NOT have a $12,000 a year car allowance.
Oak Park was looking at spending $900,000 for "solar power" for "parking garage lighting", to "save on electrical costs". Public officials have a "spend spend spend" mentality which has nothing to do with good governance, true governmental roles of policing, fire protection, water and sewer, and public education of a reasonable quality of service.
Need more revenue for schools:
1) Require school board administration staffing to be trimmed to no more than 25% of total teaching staff count. I've heard that many administrations contain more staff than total teaching staff.
2. Outright outlaw school boards from accelerating salaries of administrators and teachers during their last years of services, to increase their retirement payment amount. This practice of "bonus payments" is stripping the school pension system, with the false pretense that it doesn't cost the immediate school district any money because pension is paid by state (except for Chicago, as I recall).
3. Cap all school superintendent salaries at $250,000 for large school districts (20,000+ students), with sliding scale downward for smaller districts. Many districts contain one school, or a half-dozen schools, attending to perhaps 200, or 500, or 1000, or 5000 students, yet the superitendent "earns" a $150,000 to $350,000 salary. Private sector salaries aren't that generous - as media is FINALLY beginning to note and report.
3. Raise IRA scrutiny of religious exempt status for individual reverends. This is both a ghetto storefront reverend tactic, the naming of oneself to "reverend" business status, and a suburban "Korean church" phenomena. The tax benefits are immediately recognizable; collect donations which are non-taxable, buy property which becomes non-taxable, and buy yourself a nice non-profit life-style of expensive car, clothes, and household. Sham.
4. Require PILOT payments from non-profit institutions' real estate holdings that are presently exempt from real estate taxes. Some towns, such as Evanston and River Forest, have nearly half their real estate tax base exempt from real estate tax collections due to their ownership by religious and/or educational institutions. Yet these same institutions are major consumers of municipal services (water, sewer, police, fire, and building inspection, etc.) with $0 compensation to the municipal service provider. The cost burden is redistributed at a premium upon the real estate tax payers of that affected municipality. Let's face it, Northwestern University, the hospitals, Dominican University, all these major institutions collect a significant revenue stream and pay their administrators very very generous salaries and perks. It's about time these same institutions also compensate their municipalities for services rendered, and become better neighbors to their adjoining residential homeowners.
4. Cut pension benefits. Private sector no longer provides pension benefits to its employees, we just have 401Ks, if we're lucky. And we typically earn less then many of the equivalent positions in the public sector. The pension rewards are no longer sustainable, and they are either cut, or the system goes bankrupt and the pension payments disappear altogether.
Stop all the Social work going on in schools and get back to educating. Speech and PT should be ran through medical insurance not our schools. Many other programs could go as well. The schools are far too involved with parenting students and are left with little time or resources to do what they are supposed to do...educate. Parents have handed over the job to schools while they still collect public aid.
Hey, that money we stole from you at gunpoint? Well we pissed it away. The only solution is to steal more from you!
You think they give a shit about our vote? Only 9,000 cops and probably over half of them not registered to vote? Split that half into dumbocrat and republicans and what's left?
ooooooooooooooooooooooooo
truth is, we are a very small part of the populatiuon oif chicago. Farrakhan can produce five to twenty times the votes of CPD members
Anonymous said...
Years ago they said the state lottery was for education. What happened?
3/11/2010 10:45:00 AM
The lottery money replaced regular tax revenue, it was instead of, not in addition to.
So as lottery receipts rose the amount of tax money given to education went down. Someone ought to figure out what percentage of education funding still comes from tax money and how much from lottery proceeds. Compare that to several random years since the lottery was started.
This much is certain, if the lottery starts going down in receipts education is really fucked, there is no where they can go to make up the funds now received from lottery receipts.
This much is certain, if the lottery starts going down in receipts education is really fucked, there is no where they can go to make up the funds now received from lottery receipts.
3/12/2010 06:11:00 PM
Gambling?
>>>3. Raise IRA scrutiny of religious exempt status for individual reverends. This is both a ghetto storefront reverend tactic, the naming of oneself to "reverend" business status, and a suburban "Korean church" phenomena. The tax benefits are immediately recognizable; collect donations which are non-taxable, buy property which becomes non-taxable, and buy yourself a nice non-profit life-style of expensive car, clothes, and household. Sham.
...3/12/2010 08:02:00 AM<<<
I think you mean, "Raise IRS (Internal Revenue Service) scrutiny...on your second #3.
Amen to that. There is also a SCAM where business run by new immigrants are tax exempt for five years. A lot of these dollar and convenience stores held by Middle-Eastern, Korean and East European families in particular. After five years the store gets transferred to a new cousin who comes over and the five years starts all over again.
Yes, more cash for education. My tax bill needs to go higher! Teachers and schools already get most of the taxes and they have the best saleries and pensions in the state. But, when a politician cries, "its for the children" he usually gets what he wants.
I thought the Illinois Lottery was originally set up to fund education.
Post a Comment
<< Home