April 23, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Burns

WBEZ: Mayors’ group pushes for Illinois pension reform

A group of Illinois mayors is calling for an overhaul to local pension systems for police and fire departments, but it’s unclear if state lawmakers will take up the issue anytime soon.

No legislation has been drafted and negotiations are in a preliminary stage.

Mayors from communities including Rockford, Aurora, Peoria and several Chicago suburbs spoke Monday. Among the suggested ideas are raising the retirement age and lower annual cost-of-living adjustments.

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Chicago Sun Times: Do-over April 30 on Obama presidential library $100 million vote

A move by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to muscle through a measure to appropriate $100 million from the cash-strapped state to help finance the construction of President Barack Obama’s presidential library and museum in Chicago is erupting into a controversy.

The backlash is strong enough that a committee vote Madigan engineered last Thursday in Chicago to advance the $100 million plan to the House floor now will be retaken in Springfield on April 30.

And this time, state GOP House members, now paying attention — and being stung by Madigan’s legislative sleight-of-hand — will attend the hearing.

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Bloomberg: Amazon Sales Take a Hit in States With Online Tax

Amazon.com is taking a hit in states that are collecting an online sales tax.

In one of the first efforts to quantify the impact of states accruing more tax revenue from Web purchases, researchers at Ohio State University published a paper this month that found sales dropped for Amazon when the online charge was introduced. In states that have the tax, households reduced their spending on Amazon by about 10 percent compared to those in states that don’t have the levy. For online purchases of more than $300, sales fell by 24 percent, according to the report titled “The Amazon Tax.”

The findings add to concerns about how much the world’s largest online retailer can expand. The Seattle-based company, which reports quarterly earnings on April 24, has been grappling with decelerating revenue growth amid heavy spending by Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos on new initiatives. Amazon has enjoyed an edge against brick-and-mortar retailers because consumers didn’t have to pay a sales tax for purchases from the e-commerce site, yet that has eroded as states including California and Texas have unveiled the levies.

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Chicago Sun Times: Rahm’s property tax hike a no-go for downtown alderman

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) on Monday declared his opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for a massive property tax increase to save two of Chicago’s four underfunded city employee pension funds and outlined three alternatives, two of them involving tax increment financing.

“Chicago has been making slow, but steady progress in its economic recovery. I’m concerned that a property tax increase of this size could reverse that progress,” Reilly said, referring to the $750 million that the city stands to collect over a five-year period by raising the city’s levy by $250 million.

“I’m still waiting to receive data I requested a few weeks ago to better understand the impact on commercial building owners and property owners downtown. Until I’m able to review that data and until we’ve exhausted all of these other alternatives or a blend of them, I don’t even want to talk about a property tax increase. We need to consider a property tax increase as an absolute last resort.”

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NY Times: Looking at Costs and Risks, Many Skip Health Insurance

Steve Huber, an affable salesman who is still paying off an unexpected medical bill, was not among the millions of Americans who signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act during the enrollment period that ended March 31.

After seeing television ads for Kentucky’s new online insurance marketplace, Mr. Huber, 57, made several attempts to explore the website but found it too complicated. Moreover, his income has dropped in recent years, he said, and he felt certain that he could not afford coverage. So he never priced plans or researched whether he qualified for financial assistance.

“I realize that I’m gambling,” he said, stopping at a coffee shop before a sales call. “But I don’t have a lot of patience, and I’m on a pretty tight budget anyway.”

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Stateline: Lawmakers Jockey Over Budget Surpluses

Less than 24 hours after the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team beat cross-state rival Louisville to advance to the Sweet 16, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray asked state lawmakers for $80 million to renovate Rupp Arena, the iconic building where the Wildcats play. He didn’t get it.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear also called on the legislature to pass the arena funding, along with more money for K-12 education, pre-school, transportation, infrastructure and some targeted tax cuts. The tax cuts and education and transportation funds were approved. But the budget passed by the politically divided legislature also cut spending by 5 percent for many state agencies and left others flat. Rupp Arena did not make the cut, though the governor and mayor have pledged to try again next session.

The Kentucky experience illustrates the trade-offs and competing interests facing states with surpluses. Forty-two governors recommended higher spending for fiscal year 2014 than the year before, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO). The organization expects budgets to be as large, or larger, in fiscal 2015.

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CARTOON OF THE DAY

stantis