Chicago - Mayor Emanuel proposes legalizing marijuana, casino to pay for pensions

[lunasun]

https://wgntv.com/2018/12/12/emanuel-proposes-legalizing-marijuana-casino-to-pay-for-pensions/

— Mayor Rahm Emanuel will lay out his recommendations for dealing with city pensions.

He will propose that lawmakers legalize marijuana and allow a casino in the city to help cover the costs.

The Chicago Tribune reports he'll recommend aldermen set up pension obligation bonds to help cut the amount the city owes retirement funds.

The looming pension crisis will require nearly $1 billion in annual retirement payments by 2023.

Sources say he does not plan to borrow money to cover retirement funds

[kysrsoze]

1. Digging into the $500M+ TIF developer slush fund would also be helpful.

He has refused to touch that money when it came to dealing with Chicago Public Schools shortfalls.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. And only 1 casino to bring in all of these hundreds of millions of dollars? Yeah, right. I ...

think beside competing w/ downstate casinos, and possibly taking business away from them, as well as using the power ball and/or mega millions jackpots for school funding, there seems to be an inordinate amount of depending upon gambling income, which is sometimes iffy.

Another sin tax. Why not sell Pot recreationally, and legally, and use the proceeds for pensions (instead of medical only)?

[lunasun]

3. It's beem medical state wide a few yrs. although statewide it was of the most restricted medicallaws

Just recently got revamped and expanded statewide this year last summer

It is a recreational proposal and the pensions here are heavy but I understand these were contracts made
His speech :
Should they follow that course, a portion of that revenue could go toward strengthening our pension funds and securing the retirement of the workers who depend on them.
I believe recreational marijuana has social costs that must be considered. And like a casino, revenue would take time to be realized.
But if the State goes down that path, those resources can and should be used to further solidify our pensions without asking more of Chicago taxpayers.
If we take all of these steps, from a consideration model, to amending the constitution, to issuing bonds, to a casino, to recreational marijuana, we will dramatically reduce what is asked of our taxpayers.
We will meet our goals of both stabilizing Chicago’s pension funds and asking the least amount from Chicago taxpayers

[SWBTATTReg]

4. Thank you for adding the clarification. If there are methods to explore besides an ...

automatic run to the voters for a tax increase, why not? After all, Alcohol does the same thing revenue wise for a lots of municipalities too. Unfortunately of course being a 'sin tax', but I guess that's the price we pay for government services. Perhaps there should be some sort of balance between 'sin taxes' and 'taxes' based on actual revenues / income in the state, which I think eventually is found by voters.