(Chicago Sun Times) — Gov. Quinn wants to borrow billions of dollars to pay down the state’s operating and pension deficits, a proposal some lawmakers say faces an uphill battle when they return to Springfield Jan. 3 for the lame-duck legislative session. The governor is considering borrowing $15 billion to balance the state’s largest ever […]
(Wall Street Journal) — President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2012 will be released in mid-February, a little more than a week after its planned release date. The administration is scrambling to assemble what could be a pivotal document following a six-week delay in the confirmation of the White House’s new budget director, a […]
(Chicago Tribune) — Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinklelauded several county officials Wednesday for buying in to her plan to slash spending, even as a trio of her colleagues weren’t totally sold on the idea. The new head of county government is asking for 16 percent budget cuts, but it remains unclear whether the state’s attorney, sheriff […]
(Huffington Post) — A lot has been said about the proposed tax giveaway to the wealthiest Americans and the austerity measures recommended by President Obama’s deficit commission. However, an analysis of the impact that both proposals would have on black and brown Americans has been missing from the conversation. U.S. Census Bureau projections show that […]
(Washington Informer) — The District of Columbia Council passed a supplementary budget, 11-2, on Tue., Dec. 7 that will not include tax increases but will mandate that city employees be furloughed for four days and some programs will have to endure cuts. The budget was sent over to the D.C. Council after the Thanksgiving holiday because the […]
(Wall Street Journal) — New York City will begin charging private hospitals as much as $1 million a year for hospital ambulances dispatched by the city’s 911 system, a controversial initiative that some medical professionals fear will prompt hospitals to stop providing the service. Mayor Michael Bloomberg approved the new fee as part of his […]
(Washington Post) — Raising taxes and parking fines are the traditionally irksome ways that local governments generate desperately needed revenue. Not the District government, that hotbed of fiscal innovation. Try blackjack, Texas hold ’em and five-card stud. A D.C. council member is proposing that the city legalize and promote online poker and fantasy sports gambling […]
(LA Times) — The tax-cut deal President Obama struck with congressional Republicans reflects an enduring political reality: Forced to choose, Washington’s leaders kick long-term problems down the road. The agreement would add a staggering $700 billion to the federal budget deficit in the next two years alone, and the prospects for tax cuts and their negative consequences […]
(Washington Post) — D.C. Council members are considering proposals to raise taxes on middle- and upper-middle-class residents, not just the wealthy, as they try to close a budget shortfall that they say will require deep cuts to social programs, potential layoffs or furloughs of city employees and new tax brackets. On Tuesday, the council will vote […]
The rich keep their tax breaks, unemployment payments are extended and payroll taxes are eased.
(New York Times) — Iyauta Moore may be many things — a single mother raised by a single mother in the South Bronx, a 34-year-old woman with a master’s degree in public administration from American University, a top-level government employee who makes a little over $100,000 a year — but she bristles at the notion […]
(Washington Examiner) — The District is quickly approaching the point where it will no longer be able to afford to build new roads, overhaul school buildings and make other capital expenditures. If revenue and spending on capital projects remains the same, the city will be up against a self-imposed 12 percent debt cap within five […]