The increase comes after last year’s hike, which cost yearlong commuters an extra $141 annually for their monthly passes. Metra officials have not ruled out further fare hikes or service cuts.
House Bill 3004 would have put banks and bondholders ahead of taxpayers and those who rely on government services. But Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto strips the bill of those bailout provisions.
Bailout bills moving in the Illinois General Assembly would attempt to turn Illinois’ massive debt problems into guaranteed profits for banks and bondholders and a lower standard of living for other Illinoisans.
In 2010, the unfunded debt related to pensions and retiree health care costs for local and state government workers across Illinois was $203 billion, the equivalent of more than $43,000 per household. In just six years, the total debt Illinois households are on the hook for has jumped to $56,000, or 31 percent. That’s a $13,000 increase for each household. Total unfunded debt for state and local governments in Illinois now totals $267 billion.
While Illinois motorists have seen the country’s second-highest increase in gas prices, Chicagoans pay even higher prices at the pump due to multiple layers of city, county and state taxation.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.