Reuters reports:
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has disclosed that his record property tax hike plan entails significant cuts for nearly 300,000 homeowners, leaving Chicago businesses predicting they will face hikes of up to 50 percent.
There's more:
Emanuel's office, which has said one in four dollars of the tax hike would come from the city's central business district, did not contest the 50-percent figure. But a mayoral aide insisted Emanuel's plan is his best effort to fairly distribute the cost of the tax increase.
"Mayor Emanuel believes that the necessary property tax increase for our police and fire pension funds should be borne by those who can best afford it and should not hurt middle- and lower-income families and seniors," Emanuel spokeswoman Molly Poppe told Reuters.
How bad are things in Chicago?
Combined, Chicago's police and fire pension funds had a deficit of $12.1 billion as of December, city records show. The fire pension system is only 23 percent funded, while police pensions is 26 percent funded.
Great moments of Blue America!
