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Securitizing the banksters, with cameras and contracts
Just in case there was any doubt, Pam Martens in Counterpunch gives us a report on the Lower Manhattan Security Coordination Center, where feeds from sophisticated spy cameras are integrated to...
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Planned office tower may take double subsidy
rendering from Chicago Sun-Times Two or three developers (depending on which source you read) plan a new 45-story, 900K sq ft, $300 million office tower at 444 W Lake Street. In the world most of us...
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Economic divide is geographic, too
“Debt” graffito photo by Franco Folini via flickr (cc) When I see the same theme coming from two different sources, I think there’s a trend (tho maybe it just means I wasn’t paying attention). And so...
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Public Revenue Education Council helps state officials learn about smart tax...
What’s this? No posts for a month? Actually had several things “almost ready” to post, but meanwhile I spent an interesting three days at the National Council of State Legislators’ “Legislative...
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Just because they ask, doesn’t mean we have to give it to them
Governments here in Illinois (and probably everywhere else) like to “request” things, but that doesn’t mean we mundanes always need to grant these requests. Two examples from recent experience: detail...
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Tracking the payrollers*
While assisting the Public Revenue Education Council at the National Council of State Legislators convention, I couldn’t help photographing some of the federal employees in “action.” Census was there,...
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Transaction taxes
photo credit: AutisticPsycho2 via Wikimedia (cc) Proposals for a small tax on investment transactions seem to make some sense. Ordinary investors, small or large, are likely to buy or sell a small...
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Are subsidies driving Chicago land prices back up?
Image linked from the Crain’s article Of course they are, but it’s convenient to see it illustrated as Crains Chicago Real Estate Daily explains. The proposal seems to be for Pam Gleichman and Karl...
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Curious land tenure arrangement at Glencoe
photo detail of a former theater building on Belmont, by Terence Faircloth via flickr (cc) As reported yesterday by Chris Jones of the Tribune, Writers’ Theater is planning a new $30 million home on...
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“We need an anti-Rentier Campaign” says Michael Lind
image credit: Erick_ckB via flickr (cc) A nice series of three short articles (h/t Gloria Picchetti) in Salon by Michael Lind, explaining the difference between an entrepreneur — who may become wealthy...
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I’m from the government and I’m here to deceive you
image credit: A Mina via flickr (cc) They call it “Factors Influencing Voluntary Compliance by Small Businesses[pdf],” and the report comes from IRS (actually “an independent organization within IRS,”...
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The taxing question of land value
UK Geoists are crowdsourcing a film about the nature and benefits resulting from a tax on the value of land. You needn’t be a UK resident nor have a UK charge card in order to support this. Seeking a...
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Aussie prof says land value increase can fund light rail
Land value increase due to light rail is sufficient to pay the entire cost of construction, asserts Curtin U. Prof Peter Newman. At a minimum, he suggests, the increased real estate tax revenue...
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NY Times reports another benefit of the citizens dividend
photo credit: coal dubya via flickr (cc) If the earth belongs to the people, then whatever is paid for the use thereof belongs to them in some equitable fashion also. Therefore, beyond what’s needed...
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Using gifts to promote thought about taxes
As Tolstoy pointed out in slightly different words, anyone who understands the fundamentals of public finance cannot fail to agree that the smartest way to fund our governments is to collect economic...
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What the Tribune missed
image from Michael Casey via flickr (cc) Last year the remnant of the Chicago Tribune requested ideas for elements of a new “Plan of Chicago.” They even posted a few of the responses on their site. I...
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America Fast Forward to Transit Future Obligations
Sunday on CTA Route 49 Over here in Illinois a coalition of powerful and dangerous people and organizations seems to be supporting a “transit future” initiative to harvest a “robust revenue stream,”...
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Quid Pro Brew
image credit: Bernt Rostad (cc) via flickr I was wondering a few weeks ago why Revolution Brewing supported the lobbyist-friendly “Transit Future” funding effort. How foolish I was, is not brewing a...
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Land sales price vs. what is paid for land
image credit: Onishenko In order to fund community needs from a tax on land value, assessors need to estimate what that land value is. Conceptually the task need not be difficult (Ted Gwartney...
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Retiring regional leader on how to fund infrastructure
from Wikimedia From Marni Pyke’s interview in the Herald: One way to pay involves value capture — establishing special taxing areas that assume that development like a new road benefits landowners by...
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