A Tax Day warning?!? Or what could have been of Reynolds legacy?

If I didn’t know better, I’d think the federal government staged the return of one-time Congressman Mel Reynolds on Monday just to try to scare the rest of us into complying with federal laws concerning the income tax.

REYNOLDS: Back in the U.S. of A.

For we’re approaching the deadline by which the American public is expected to acknowledge our incomes and just how much our tax obligation is (and also to pay up any debt owed, if that is the case).

FOR THOSE OF us who might be inclined to think that no one would miss it if their return wasn’t amongst the millions that the Internal Revenue Service will have to go through, Reynolds becomes the prime example of how to get caught

For it seems the former representative from the far South Side and surrounding suburbs is facing criminal charges for what federal officials say was his failure to even file income tax returns from 2009 to 2012.

He doesn’t have much of an income these days. I’m sure he’ll offer up some grandiose attempt at justifying his behavior when he goes on trial next month in U.S. District Court.

But Reynolds, whose case has been pending for over a year, has missed recent court appearances. Officials admit there was actually a 10-day time period in which they couldn’t account for where Mel was physically.

THAT LED TO an arrest warrant being issued by a federal judge demanding Reynolds’ arrest. That warrant was served on Monday.

For it seems that Reynolds was out of the country. In South Africa, to be exact. It seems one of his daughters is ill and undergoing medical treatment there. He says that’s why he wasn’t in court in Chicago.

As it turns out, upon arriving back in the United States at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta, he was picked out of the returning masses at the airport, and placed under arrest.

He had to appear before a federal magistrate in Atlanta, who ultimately decided to accept the fact he was back in the U.S. of A. and not impose any additional penalties.

IN THEORY, REYNOLDS could have been ordered held in federal custody between now and May 5 – the date upon which his trial is scheduled to begin. Or he could have been ordered to post a significant bond to provide further incentive for Mel to show up in court for his trial.

I don’t know what to think of Reynolds’ latest predicament – other than to say it shows further evidence of a man who, despite his Ivy League education and Rhodes Scholar credentials is one of those kinds of people who is just a screw-up in life.

And that it adds to the list of laughable moments we have of the man we once thought was the significant step up from political people such as one-time Congressman Gus Savage.

Just think of the lotto or peach panties. You’re either smirking at the memory of Reynolds, or else you’re a snot-nosed punk kid who’s too young to remember what happened between the congressman and his one-time teenaged admirer.

ALTHOUGH THE FACT is that it is the latter round of criminal charges that came up in federal court in Chicago (bank fraud and deceiving FEC investigators for improper use of campaign funds) are the ones that are the more serious blot on Reynolds’ legacy.

Not being able to file tax returns for several years only adds to the impression of a man whose lengthy political career (he was only a member of Congress for 2 ½ years) we, the people, were seriously spared.

Just think what could have been accomplished if he had been a government official for a significant length of time.

Certainly more than a horror story of how the federal government really will go after you if you think it isn’t worth your while to file that tax return – which this year won’t be due until Monday instead of Friday.

  -30-

Bruce Rauner: A 'bad man,' or a 'protector' of Illinois interests?

We’re going to be able to quarrel for months to come over how badly Gov. Bruce Rauner hurt his public perception with his actions Friday afternoon.

What he did was rescinded eight executive orders that now-former Gov. Pat Quinn approved in his final hours in office Monday morning. It shouldn’t be a shock; Rauner has publicly said he’d like to rescind everything Quinn did in the final two months he was in office.

BUT THOSE ACTIONS by Quinn were described at the time of their approval as potential landmines for the new governor – if he were to refuse to let them remain in place, he’d be exposing himself to be a politically partisan hack in his own right.

Some believed Rauner might feel compelled to just let the acts remain in place to avoid public criticism. Then again, those are probably the same people who believe that every season is “the” season for the Chicago Cubs to succeed.

Which is to say that Rauner is refusing to go along. But how will he take the criticism that inevitably will fall upon him.

For the record, the actions that got rescinded included a provision that anyone working on a project that was a state contract would have to be paid a $10 per hour minimum wage – the rate that Quinn had hoped all workers in Illinois would receive as part of his final act in office.

ALSO, QUINN WANTED all governors to be required to disclose their income levels and other financial interests by publicly revealing their income tax refunds each year while in office.

It shouldn’t be a secret that Rauner would hate either idea.

He is the guy who during his gubernatorial campaign initially opposed any minimum wage increase, then said he might be willing to support something that increased the current $8.25 level IF there also were changes in the law meant to benefit business interests.

Which makes it seem that he’s more interested in measures that organized labor will hate than in trying to do anything to bolster the income level among people who work in this state.

AND AS FOR the tax disclosures, Rauner went through his whole campaign refusing to reveal such information about himself. He wasn’t about to have a turnaround now just because Quinn wanted to make Rauner look bad/foolish/corrupt in the future!

So Rauner showed us just how weak the power of an executive order truly is – it has no permanent standing and can be eliminated at the whim of a future governor.

Which is what all those people praising President Barack Obama’s use of executive orders to impose immigration reform measures ought to keep in mind – nothing is permanent, and ideologues can have their way in the future when (and it will happen eventually) they get their own elected to prominent government posts.

I’m sure Rauner is going to claim now and in the future when he continues to use his authority to repeal acts that have their origins in the Quinn years that he’s protecting the people of Illinois from irresponsible actions taken in the past.

I ALSO EXPECT there are those who are ideologically inclined to want to believe Rauner will be all too eager to claim that he’s just in his actions.

But I wonder how many more people will wind up seeing these repeals as the act of someone eager to use his newly-acquired political power to dominate the public will?

Rauner standing in the way of refusing to bolster the pay of even a few working people? Refusing to reveal his income (because it would show just exactly how out of touch his life is compared to the average working stiff)?

Rauner may wind up wondering if there’s enough Tylenol in all of Illinois to cope with the future headaches he may have provoked for himself.

  -30-

Two-thirds say ‘yea’ to minimum wage hike; means little to gov.-elect

Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner already is throwing around edicts about what he thinks Pat Quinn and the outgoing General Assembly ought to be allowed to do with their remaining time.

Although the issue he’s getting all worked up over is NOT the one he thought he was going to have to address back when he was a mere gubernatorial candidate with dreams of someday being the “top dog” of Illinois state government.

BACK DURING THE gubernatorial debates, Rauner kept trying to get Quinn to promise not to push for a permanent extension of the income tax increase that is supposed to wither away come Jan. 1.

Quinn, to his credit, would commit to no such thing – particularly since he had always made it clear he wanted to keep the additional revenue generated by the temporary increase. Nobody would have believed him if he had agreed to Rauner’s demands.

Now, Quinn has no intention of touching the issue. The state still is going to experience a severe financial shortfall this fiscal year. But since Quinn is history come Jan. 9, it’s now Rauner who will have to resolve this problem.

In fact, the one thing that Quinn promised to get done during the Legislature’s fall session beginning in a couple of weeks is to approve an increase in the state’s minimum wage. Illinois already has a wage higher than the federal minimum, but the cost of living is rising at a faster rate.

QUINN WOULD PROBABLY love it if he could be the guy who gets credit for putting the minimum wage higher than $10 an hour.

The idea also is popular amongst the electorate.

In a year when the conservative ideologues are going to want to believe that their views predominated on Election Day, Illinois voters gave a 2-1 margin of support to a referendum question that asked if the state’s minimum wage rate ought to be increased.

There may be those who will screech and scream loudly and shrilly about how paying unskilled labor more money is the death of our economy. Rauner appears to be amongst them.

BECAUSE IN PRESENTING his “transition team” earlier this week (including one-time gubernatorial dreamer William Daley and one-time nominee Glenn Poshard), Rauner also made it clear he wants nothing done by the General Assembly until he gets to be a full-fledged governor.

Considering that he’s already trying to create the impression that it’s the Democratic Party-dominated General Assembly that’s refusing to listen to his orders, it seems he wants to be the “chief” who barks orders and has them blindly followed.

Including the minimum wage, where he now says he’s willing to consider some hike (although not as big as the $13/hour total that Mayor Rahm Emanuel has hinted at) but ONLY if it is combined with alleged business reforms.

Some of which strike people as being just a step or two removed from making Illinois into a “right to work” state – like one of those places in the South that goes out of its way to inhibit organized labor and the concerns of working people. Definitely not something that will please anybody whose concern is boosting the pay people receive for their work.

I’M NOT ABOUT to predict with any certainty what will happen. But considering that there is resentment arising from the perception that Rauner tried to create on Election Night that he reached out to the legislative leaders (when it seems he really didn’t), I won’t be surprised to see something happen on the minimum wage issue -- just as a way of telling the incoming governor where he can "stuff" his partisan ideals.

Would our Legislature, at the urging of Gov. Pat Quinn, be willing to back a boost in the minimum salary a person could be paid for their work – purely out of spite?

I’m sure the employees who wound up with a little more money from their paychecks wouldn’t object. I was even amongst the roughly 2.2 million voters who said “yes” to a minimum wage hike.

But public policy set by spite? Sad to say, it sounds way too much like the “Illinois way” of doing government!

  -30-

EXTRA: Gubernatorial, el finito

Call me among the pathetic – insofar as the masses are concerned. I turned off my television and chose not to watch “Dancing with the Stars,” instead turning to WLS-TV’s web site to see the final gubernatorial debate live held Monday night.

Those who had no computer access had to wait for the delayed broadcast (at 10:30 p.m., following the late-night news). It reminds me of 1981 – when I listened to the Chicago Sting win the North American Soccer League championship that year on radio because no one would carry the NASL “Soccer Bowl” live on television.

SO WHAT DID we, the people (at least those of us with an interest in voting for governor), gain from this final face-to-face confrontation between Gov. Pat Quinn and his Republican challenger, Bruce Rauner?

There’s the ongoing problem of shortfalls in the amount of money needed to fund state-monitored pension programs. Quinn signed a reform measure into law, but the courts have not been favorable to it – and some people expect the courts will eventually strike down that measure.

Leaving Illinois with nothing in place.

Rauner wants to think that Quinn himself is to blame for this mess. “Pension issues are one of the biggest issues we face,” he said. “Quinn failed, then dumped into the Legislature’s hands this issue. It’s the governor’s obligation.”

HE ALSO SAID that Quinn has been eager to point out social issues, “because he can’t run on financial issues.”

Although I know first-hand from dealing with the General Assembly that any governor who thinks he can strong-arm the Legislature is going to find himself thoroughly beaten. Just look at what became of Rod Blagojevich – a Legislature that was more than eager to impeach when the feds began probing his administration.

So Quinn may have a point when he says, “I know how to work with legislators. My opponent demonizes legislators.” He also said, "I have a lot of power, and I have used it wisely," while downplaying the many moments when Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has treated Quinn as though he ranks lower than a legislative page.

There’s also the notion that the General Assembly may consider a permanent boost in the state income tax – the increase that was supposed to be temporary and wither away after this year. But which Quinn says is now necessary just to maintain government.

QUINN HAS CONSTANTLY said he’s going to push this issue in the veto session come November (after the Nov. 4 elections), and twice reiterated that notion on Monday. “He (Rauner) doesn’t want the income tax, he wants the Bruce Rauner tax,” which Quinn defines as, “fees charged on services that apply to regular people.”

Although Rauner tried again (just as in the debate last week) to pressure Quinn to say he would NOT back the increase and would let the state funding wither away. Which came across more as Rauner getting overly preachy with his rhetoric. Move on, already!

One tidbit of interest – it has been reported that city Treasurer Stephanie Neely does not plan to seek another term in office come the 2015 municipal elections. Rauner on Monday said he plans to hire her to be a part of his gubernatorial administration and said Quinn “threw her off the ticket” when he chose former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas instead of Neely to be his lieutenant governor running mate.

If Rauner manages to win come Nov. 4, that is. Otherwise, Neely could wind up governmentally unemployed.

I ALSO GOT my kick from hearing Rauner refer to himself as a “nobody.”

As in, “I’m Nobody that Nobody sent.” As a reference to political science professor Milton Rakove’s famed book about Chicago politics during the Richard J. Daley era – which referred to what he was told when he, as a University of Chicago student, tried to volunteer his services to work for the local ward organization.

Somehow, I don’t think that a venture capitalist was the type of person who qualified as a “nobody” in Rakove’s mind!

Although I wonder if Rauner was trying to compare himself to the Roosevelt and Kennedy families when he pointed out their personal wealth. “You don’t judge a person by the size of their wallet,” he said.

  -30-

Are Rauner/Edgar alike on taxes?

It was the 1994 election cycle in Illinois when Gov. Jim Edgar blasted (and whomped all over) Democratic opponent Dawn Clark Netsch for her proposal to shift public education funding from local property taxes to state income taxes.


It would result in significant tax hikes, Edgar said. Netsch would wind up harming the populace of Illinois. Just as current Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner is claiming Gov. Pat Quinn will do with his desire to have the state income tax remain at a higher level -- rather than revert back to the levels of old.


RAUNER WANTS TO think this single issue will result in Illinois voters dumping Quinn come Nov. 4. He's spending millions to ensure that thought gets pumped into the mindset of the electorate.


There's just one thing to contemplate. A few years after lambasting Netsch, Edgar tried unsuccessfully to implement a state education funding reform proposal that many political observers said was identical to Netsch's rhetoric.


History seems to be repeating itself in this election cycle. For Rauner spoke with the Chicago Tribune, which reported Thursday that he says the idea of a sudden decrease in the state income tax (the concept that he's trying to peddle to ideologically-minded voters) isn't going to happen.


He told the newspaper that the bottom line isn't getting back to 3 percent for an income tax (it has been 5 percent in recent years), but is now creating a more business-friendly climate in Illinois.


THAT WILL INCLUDE some sort of cut. But it might not be the full cut that some people are being led to believe is their birthright.


The part of the Tribune report that caught my attention was the concept that the final tax rate is going to wind up being negotiated by Rauner with the General Assembly.


Does Rauner himself realize that the concept he's peddling to voters of an income tax rate restoration is not realistic, and probably dangerous to the financial status of Illinois?


The state has obligations, and is going to need the revenue to meet them. There's just no getting around that. And whether one likes the idea of the higher income tax rate, there is a sense that Quinn is telling us the ugly truth when saying it needs to remain in place.


SO WHAT SHOULD we think of Rauner? I'm not about to call him a liar!


More a political opportunist. Making statements that sound good in their simplicity for people who can't stand the idea that government isn't simple. The kind of people for whom details are what is wrong with government officials.


Maybe those individuals will become disenchanted with Rauner. Only he's hoping it doesn't happen for another year, by which time he's entrenched in office and has until early 2019 to get something done.


But keep in mind that the rest of Illinois government is going to remain partisan to the Democratic Party. For the Legislature itself remains Dem-leaning and is not likely to change.


REPUBLICANS ARE PUTTING so little effort into the campaigns of other candidates running for office in this year's election cycle that Illinois will still have a Democratic-leaning government structure.


The truth is that Rauner, the candidate, is one of those business executives whose ego would like to have a political office in his life's story, and he thinks he can be the CEO of Illinois government.


Perhaps he thinks the Legislature is the equivalent of a board of directors put in place to rubber-stamp his decisions. Which just isn't going to be the case. Perhaps he's watched too much of the City Council and the way it kow-tows to the mayor?


It isn't going to happen on the Springfield scene anytime soon. Which makes me wonder if the day will come that people will ponder a Quinn defeat this year the same way they wonder what could have been if Netsch could have had an adequate campaign fund to fight back against Edgar's allegations.


THEN AGAIN, QUINN has the campaign fund to get his message out, even though he will get outspent by Rauner's personal contributions -- along with the millions coming from business interests who want a governor who will kneel before their desires.


It's not like a Rauner victory is really going to result in a sudden drop in the income tax, the way the ideologues fantasize about.


  -30-

Statehouse resembles Fantasyland; legislators need to make up minds

There are times I seriously wonder just what world do the members of the Illinois General Assembly live in?

Because it certainly isn’t the one in which you and I are forced to exist in – one in which the problems of real life need to be confronted, or else risk serious consequences for trying to ignore them.

OUR STATE’S LEGISLATURE seems to think that if they close their eyes tightly enough, the financial problems confronting the state will just go away.

Or maybe they view it the same way they view gambling expansion, new airports or many other issues that linger for years (if not decades) on end because legislators just don’t think the time is right to finally address them. They don’t want to be bothered!

What has me worked up are the votes taken this week, particularly on Friday, with regards to the state’s budget.

Based off assorted news reports, it seems that only 34 Illinois House members (all Democrats) are willing to support the desire of Gov. Pat Quinn to make permanent the increase in the income tax approved a few years ago.

THE ONE THAT was crafted in a way that it lapses after year’s end, and we’d go back to the old state income tax rate.

Which means a significant drop in the amount of money available to state government for its operating expenses this year. And it’s not just state government itself.

Let’s not forget that many public service entities rely heavily on state government grants and other funds for a significant share of their own operating budgets. That includes public education, which would take a significant hit beyond the ones they have taken in recent years in terms of the amount of money they would have to operate schools.

Yet what is annoying is the vote that came Friday – one on a budget proposal that assumes the income tax boost will not remain in place, and that there will be major cuts required in state government operations.

THAT IS THE bill that received a 5-107 vote. As in only five legislators – House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and four other Democrats – being willing to support it.

We'll all be in the gloom 'n' doom of the Statehouse if legislators can't make up their minds by month's end

 

Now I’m sure the masses of those 107 voting against are going to claim they’re being responsible. They’re looking out for the schools. They’re protecting other public service programs and agencies that would be devastated if they took a major cut in funding.

But that’s nonsense.

Because like I pointed out before, there are only 34 (out of 118 Illinois House members) who are willing to support the cuts.

WHAT WE HAVE are legislators who don’t want anything cut, but don’t want to do anything to come up with the money required to avoid serious cuts.

Actually, what I suspect is that most of those legislators don’t want anything cut that impacts their legislative districts. They want the cuts to be made in programs affecting everybody else’s district.

A greedy little sentiment, which is in total character with the mentality of the typical General Assembly member.

Like I have written before, I don’t like the idea of the income tax remaining at a higher rate. Nobody does. Although I suspected back when it was temporarily increased that it would become permanent out of necessity.

SO EXCUSE ME for accepting reality, and the need to use the schools in particular to try to score some cheap political points meant to appease the anti-tax crowd – the ones who believe they have no obligation to support their government in any way.

Although maybe their problem is they don’t like the way it supports certain people whom they’d prefer to ignore.

So what’s going to happen between now and next Saturday, which is when the General Assembly is supposed to complete its business for the spring session and go home until November?

MADIGAN: How hard can he hit?

I don’t have a clue! Several somebodies in the General Assembly are going to have to undergo serious changes of heart in their feelings. They’re going to have to pick a side – more money, or more cuts.

WE MAY WIND up seeing some classic use of power by Madigan to make people wind up doing the right thing. We could learn just how hard the “Velvet Hammer” of old still hits.

Trying to play both sides and avoid offending anybody is what is going to cause serious financial problems to develop and linger on long after this spring session is nothing but a distant nightmare.

  -30-

Money has to come from somewhere to maintain state government services

It’s going to get interesting to see how much the rhetoric gets ratcheted up in coming weeks with regards to the state’s income tax.

QUINN: Doing right, if unpopular, thing?

That’s the one that got increased a few years ago, with the concept written into the language of the law that it was an increase ceasing to exist at the end of 2014.

MEANING, IF THE General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn don’t do something specific to extend the life of the increase, the income tax will revert back to its previous level (5 percent to 3 percent – remember the infamous “67 percent tax hike” talk).

Of course, there have been many occasions in the past where “temporary” tax hikes became permanent, or at least extended for another length of time.

As I have written before, I fully expected this particular tax increase would become permanent. I never expected the Legislature to allow it to wither away with inaction. I’m braced for this particular tax hike.

Even though the conservative ideologues are trying to make an issue by campaigning for allowing the increase to wither away. And Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, has said he does not right now have enough votes in the House to actually approve a bill that extends the life of the income tax increase.

WHICH IS WHY we’re getting the rhetoric from government types who want the increase to remain in place.

I still have my copy of a list from the Illinois Senate Democrats telling me exactly how much money each public school district would lose in state aid – IF the state budget suddenly took a big hit financially.

WHITE: No more renewal notices?!?

Get the educators convinced they’re about to lose even more in state funding than they’ve already been getting cut in recent years, and you can be assured they will be a faithful force in favor of persuading legislators to vote “aye” on a measure related to maintaining the income tax at its current level.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White last week added to the talk by telling how he’d have to cut the number of facilities where one can get, or renew a driver’s license.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE’D also have to cut back on those notices his office sends out each year to remind people that the license plates on their cars need to be renewed.

OGILVIE: Quinn hopes to avoid fate

Along with the notices every four years telling them their driver’s licenses are about to expire.

Personally, I’d like to think that’s something people ought to keep track of on their own. Although I’m sure some will gripe that without such a notice, they can’t be expected to know on their own when they have to renew.

Will we suddenly get an increase in the number of people with expired license plates or driver’s licenses who will complain that “It’s not my fault!” when they get pulled over by police and ticketed?

I’M NOT SURE how this issue is going to be resolved – other than to know that by month’s end it will be over.

A part of me believes that the Democratic Party leadership that runs both the Illinois House and state Senate will manage to use their power to persuade/pressure/twist the arms of legislators to approve the income tax continuation – which is desired by Quinn.

Which is all the reason why Republicans will spew the rhetoric – if they can derail a Quinn desire, they can make him look weak and ineffectual. And if they can’t, they will try tagging him as the guy who got both an income tax hike AND a property tax hike in Chicago!

Bringing back memories of Bill Ogilvie – the one-time governor who lost his re-election bid for having the nerve to do the right thing in creating the desperately-needed state income tax to begin with.

  -30-

Double the taxes to be raised? Or double headache for pols on pensions?

So much for the idea of the General Assembly giving a quickie approval to a measure required for Chicago city government to be able to resolve its own pension-funding problems.

EMANUEL: Wants state support for tax hike

The Legislature adjourned Friday morning without the Illinois House of Representatives taking up the issue. Republicans remain adamantly opposed to the solution desired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and I’m also sure there are Democrats who don’t think much of the solution put forth.

ALTHOUGH I SUSPECT if they don’t go along with it, they’re going to learn just how harsh the Wrath of Rahm can be. Plus, they’ll get the blame for the city’s pension problems becoming an overwhelming burden on municipal government.

This coming after many of them took the hard vote for a state pension funding reform mechanism that is so despised by organized labor that many unions did their best to try to defeat its more vulnerable political supporters at the ballot box.

This is going to get ugly. Nobody is going to wind up pleased with whatever solution ultimately gets agreed upon. Although as I sit here writing this commentary, I don’t have a clue what that solution will wind up being.

Now as desired by city officials, they want to reduce a $20 billion debt due to pension obligations by about half during the next four decades (pensions always are long-term issues, which is what makes them easy for political people to think they can put them off to a later date).

BUT THE BURDEN grows and grows, and eventually, political people get pressured to act for fear the debt will devour everything else in government.

QUINN: Unsure if he can help

That ultimately is what nudged the General Assembly to act on the state pension program. It is what is forcing them to deal with the city’s problem.

Which Emanuel has proposed paying down with increased property tax revenues. Some $750 million more to be raised during the next five years. Purely a local issue. Except that because it involves pensions, the state Legislature has to review it.

The same Republicans who always rant and rage about “tax” as though it were an obscenity don’t want to get the blame for supporting a property tax hike for Chicago residents. Just think of what happens if Chicago voters get it into their heads that “Republicans from Springfield” was more of a dirty phrase than usual.

DURKIN: Doesn't want blame for Chgo. hike

IT WOULD BE just the kind of thing to get them to turn out en masse on Nov. 4 and vote against every GOPer possible – including the gubernatorial bid of Bruce Rauner. Only Gov. Pat Quinn would like that idea; as Rauner is counting on Chicago voter apathy (particularly amongst African-American voters) to bolster his chances of winning.

Except that maybe he won’t.

Because Democrats in Springfield, including the city’s legislative delegation, also are being asked to back this increase, along with the one he’s already asked for in terms of making permanent an income tax increase from a couple of years ago that was only supposed to be temporary!

He’s already got the ire of the ideologues because of that, although we can dismiss that because it comes from people who are going to say Pat Quinn is vile and evil no matter what he says or does.

RAUNER: Could he be hurt too?

BUT ASKING FOR an income tax hike AND a property tax increase in Chicago? The Chicago Tribune caught Quinn engaging in some double-talk while refusing to say if he supports Emanuel’s pension solution but also saying he’d like lower property taxes.

It’s not likely he, or anyone, can have both. Although Quinn was accurate in telling that newspaper that the pension solution may wind up having to be altered, although Illinois House Minority Leader James Durkin, R-Western Springs, suggested to the Chicago Sun-Times some changes that the labor unions are saying would kill the whole deal.

And the only thing that might be worse for political people is if no deal gets approved for pension funding.

Soon to be popular w/ Statehouse scene?

Just think of how much ridicule and abuse the General Assembly was submitted to in recent years when they were unable to reach any kind of pension funding shortfall agreement.

 

I’M SURE THE City Council does not want to be in that same situation, and is eager for the Legislature to back something on their behalf.

And the only point I’m willing to make on this particular date is that whatever solution ultimately gets approved, I’m sure there will be several lawsuits challenging it in the courts – just like all the legal actions now being taken against Illinois government on the pension question.

Where’s the Tylenol bottle? Oh that’s right, there’s a rush on the headache-relief pills from all those legislators trying to pick the lesser of financial evils!

  -30-

I guess I’m with the 27 percent

As if the campaign season hasn’t been nasty enough (with just under eight months remaining), we’re going to have to rehash the ugliness of the “67 percent tax hike” that state officials allegedly imposed on us a couple of years ago.

QUINN: What will he propose?

Remember how the income tax got a boost from 3 percent to 5 percent back in 2011 (for individuals, corporate income taxes went from 4.8 percent to 7 percent), with the Illinois Legislature telling us it was just a temporary measure.

LANGUAGE WAS WRITTEN into the law that say it expires after the end date – which happens to be the end of this year. We all get to see that tax hike go away, and the income tax revert back to what it was.

Except that I don’t know of anyone who was that naïve. We’ll get a better idea where the governor stands when he presents us a budget proposal on Wednesday.

We all know better that these things have a knack of becoming relied upon to the point where some serious damage would be done to state government if we were to let that revenue disappear.

It’s not really a “67 percent tax hike” (it’s a 2 percent tax hike that produces 67 percent more revenue). If that money withers away into the political ionosphere, then our public officials are going to have to spend this election year that also is a legislative cycle devising a way to replace it.

WHICH WOULD MEAN some sort of significant tax increase, or a tax on something new. That would be even more complex.

Which is why I accept that the easiest way of handling this situation is to merely make permanent that which is already being paid. I accepted it years ago when the measure was approved and signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn that it would happen.

Anybody with common sense knew that, no matter how much we thought it stunk.

EVANS: Being practical?

So to hear people now complaining that we’re going to get hit with the massive increase? I want to tell them to “Shaddap!” “Quit yer whinin’!” Along with a couple of other choice expletives best not repeated in mixed company.

IT IS WHY I’m not going to take seriously the ideologues who will spend the next few months trying to get the electorate all worked up into pressuring legislators, for once, to do nothing.

Because if nothing is done, the funding goes away with the tax.

It is the reason why I’m not all that swayed by the poll released Monday by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute that says 60 percent of those surveyed want the 2-percent income tax increase to go away.

Only 27 percent are willing to say they think it should be kept in place. Which may mean that only 27 percent of the public (or at least those who got surveyed by the Southern Illinois University-based institute) is being realistic.

I REALLY SEE this as a matter of practicality. It is why I respect someone like state Rep. Marcus Evans, D-Chicago, who has said he supports a hike – even though he doesn’t know how large it will be or what form it will take.

People who seriously want to say that the income tax should shrivel back ought to have to suggest where the replacement revenue comes from. And I’m not all that interested in those who want to think everything can be cut.

Or at least everything that they have ideological hang-ups about – which is what this tax-cutting talk usually amounts to.

This is an instance where the responsible thing to do is to maintain what has become the status quo.

SIMON: W.W.P.D.?

BECAUSE THERE’S ALSO the fact that even with this revenue kept in place, there are going to have to be some votes by our legislators to find additional revenues for our state government structure.

Try eliminating the additional income tax revenue, and that creates even larger increases that will have to be found elsewhere.

It’s a headache, but not one that can be resolved by those people whose idea of a “pill” is a knee-jerk “no.!” Which is something I’d like to think even Paul Simon, if he were still amongst us, would realize – and vote accordingly.

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Who says Mayo Clinic has a clue? Prosecutors want Jackson health issue

All through the whole Jesse Jackson, Jr. saga, there have been those (usually with an ideological or racial leaning – if not both) who have insisted that all the talk of the now-former Congressman needing medical treatment was some sort of scam.

JACKSON: Will his health be on trial?

The fact that he got admitted to the Mayo Clinic and underwent treatment? Not swayed. They probably want to believe that the Rochester, Minn.-based clinic is somehow on the take; perhaps a part of a criminal conspiracy that perhaps they should be prosecuted for as well.

A WHOLE LOT of nonsense talk is what it really comes down to. The people who have wanted Jackson out of office for years, if not just over a decade, want him out for ideological reasons.

They’ll take whatever grounds they can get to find a reason to depose him.

And those people, I’m sure, are going to be loving the rhetoric that we’re going to get from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where on Friday a federal judge scheduled July 1 as the date that Jackson will face sentencing.

Because the prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office who are seeking to get a prison term for both Jackson and his wife, Sandi (the former alderman) are making it seem as though they want to use Jackson’s bipolar disorder diagnosis against him.

THOSE PROSECUTORS SAY they want their own medical experts to examine Jackson, on the off-chance that defense attorneys try to bring the issue up as a factor in sentencing.

As much as people complain that defense attorneys are willing to exploit a medical condition for the benefit of their clients/defendants, it is just a true that prosecutors can easily come up with their own “expert testimony” to refute any point that someone tries to make on their own behalf.

Yes, it bothers me that prosecutors are going to be feeding off the sentiments of those people who are so eager to dump Jackson from power that they’ll believe anything.

SANDI: What she gets for signing tax form

It ensures that this particular aspect of the case will linger for far longer than it deserves to.

PERSONALLY, I DON’T comprehend much of the animosity – particularly since those who were opposed to the Jacksons ultimately got what they wanted. They’re both out of political office and in situations where neither is ever likely to be capable of holding a political position of authority again.

The critics are getting what it was they wanted (and putting the rest of us through that whole ordeal of watching that special election cycle that bordered at times on the absurd). It’s as though now they’re getting greedy and demanding ultimate punishment.

Perhaps they think it has to be something more than the roughly 14 years of real time that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is now serving at a federal corrections facility in Colorado?

I noticed one anonymous (of course) Internet commenter who claims that anything less than five years in prison for each Jackson is unjust. Even though the maximum sentence Jesse, Jr. could get is five years, while sentencing guidelines say the maximum for Sandi is two years.

THE JACKSONS (AS in the political family, not the musical one) are out of office and headed for prison. They’re going to suffer. Like I stated earlier, the ideologues are getting what they want!

But let’s not overdo things. Retribution for retribution’s sake makes all of us in society look sorry – even those who don’t support it but do little to nothing to stop it.

Which is why I’m hoping the federal judge in this case (also named “Jackson,” but not related) has enough sense to not let this issue get all out of hand during the sentencing.

The last thing that a criminal sentencing needs to devolve into is a medical diagnosis!

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Tax Day creeping up on all of us

I have a lazy streak within me. Never put off in my personal life until tomorrow what I can do next week!

Ordeal will end here on Monday

This weekend, I’m going to pay for it.

FOR TAX DAY is coming up on all of us Monday. That is when we have to have our income tax returns to the federal and state governments at least in the mail.

And if we’re being completely honest here, I haven’t even thought about it yet. Which means this is the weekend I’m going to have to make some time to sit down and figure out just how much I owe the governments of the national and state entities in which I reside.

I doubt I will be one of those people who will be desperately trying to figure out some tax dodge Monday night, then rushing to find a post office that will be open until Midnight so I can get that all-desired postmark that confirms I “filed” my returns on time.

But it means I probably will not be a pleasant person to be around this weekend. So I’m warning those of you who have any personal contact with me to “Leave Me Alone!!!!” It’s for your own good.

ACTUALLY, MY RETURNS won’t be complex. They’ll just be painful.

I don’t have any investments or real tax loopholes that complicate the situation. I just have income – which means calculating the amount of money owed and paying up.

For one of the drawbacks to being a self-employed freelance writer is that no one is withholding income on my behalf to pay the tax collector. I’m responsible for making those payments myself.

There won’t be a refund, because for me, April 15 is all about accounting my income and reconciling my debt. I owe, and I will have to pay up.

AND NO, I don’t gain any sympathy for those ideologues who want to rant and rage about the evils of taxation and how government is wasting “their” money. I support the concept that government works on our behalf, and that there is something of an obligation to help support it financially.

So perhaps I should view this time of year as another moment of civic duty – similar to how I make a point of casting ballots on Election Day. It gives me my right to complain about what is going wrong.

But I’m not that high-minded. What I’m really going to feel is the pain of having to make payments to reconcile my accounts and ensure that the Internal Revenue Service does not take any special interest in my existence.

I’m going to be broke for awhile. So that might be another reason to “Leave Me Alone!!!” I will probably have a less-pleasant than usual personality for some time.

I HAVE TO confess, I stumbled across a long-ago friend whom I went to college to who was able to boast last month that he had finished his tax returns. A part of me was envious.

Then again, I’m also realistic enough to admit that I don’t have the energy to compute my finances because I know I’m going to feel that moment of depression when I have to confront just how much money I owe!

In fact, there’s really only one fact that brings me any solace these days. It reminds me of a time in my third year of college when I was two weeks away from Final Exams with four papers that needed to be written – and I had only barely started on one of them. What kept me from cracking up then was the constant reminder I gave myself that regardless of what happened (I wound up finishing all of them by deadline), it would all be over in two weeks. I’d be on break.

Tax Day is Monday. No matter how frazzled (and financially busted) I will wind up, it will all be over in two more days.

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