Courtesy of Mish.
Chicago public schools are effectively bankrupt. Its pension plans are countless billions of dollars in the hole, the worst in the nation. And Chicago bonds carry a junk rating, the worst of any major US city.
There is plenty to fix. But instead of addressing the enormous problems Chicago faces, Mayor Rahm Emanuel opts to nickel and dime residents and businesses to death, scaring away companies away in the process.
He also threatens property tax hikes that rate to be enormous.
There’s much more in this article. Make sure you get to the details of how Chicago “funded” its pension plan this year. Starting from the top …
“9% Cloud Tax on Streaming”
In April, Emanuel announced a commitment from technology companies to create 1,000 new jobs.
This month, Emanuel rewarded those technology companies with a 9% Cloud Tax on Online Movies, Music, Game, Real Estate Data Feeds.
Streaming data? Movies? Real estate Feeds?
If you have a Chicago business address expect to pay 9% more to do so thanks to an amusement tax and property lease tax extension.
Chicagoans who pay to stream movies and music from services like Netflix and Spotify will now need to fork over an additional 9 percent for the privilege, as will Chicago businesses that pay to use everything from real estate to court databases online, under a decision the city quietly made recently to expand its taxing power.
According to the Finance Department changes, the 9 percent amusement tax, which has mostly been tacked onto tickets to concerts and sporting events, also now applies to paid subscriptions for streamed digital music and to streamed rental movies or TV shows, and “for the privilege of participating in games, on-line or otherwise,” if the person paying to receive the data is in Chicago.
The personal property lease transaction tax expansion also applies to professional services, like electronic property databases real estate agents use, court case databases lawyers rely on and various financial information networks.…
