Is debating a millionaires tax or ICE a top priority at the moment?
The Chicago City Council is pushing its ballot measures again for the upcoming elections, and, as they so often do, our aldermen are wasting time with absurd ideas they have no business meddling in, including ICE and a state-wide millionaire's tax.
Instead of putting referendums on the ballot that might help Chicagoans, aldermen goofed around with areas in which they have neither control nor any legal hand in deciding.
One of the absurd measures showed the city's aldermen and Mayor Johnson were arrogant enough to imagine they can force the entire state to enact a millionaire tax just because of a little ballot measure in Chicago.
Johnson's ridiculous referendum would have asked Chicago voters if they support a three percent tax on the state's millionaires, with the takings supposedly going to fund property tax relief and public schools.
The state legislature abandoned this tax idea early this year because even Illinois Democrats couldn't get enough votes to pass it. The state has lost so many businesses and millionaires already, so, perhaps even left-wing Democrats in Springfield felt it was better to lay off their attack on wealth and jobs makers -- if only for a little while.
Ah, but the Lilliputians of the Chicago City Council bravely stepped up to push a meaningless resolution which would confiscate more wealth for City Hall’s profligate spending schemes that virtue signal to liberal voters Johnson and his aldermen are down with the struggle against the evil rich.
In the end, the measure was dropped from consideration because its sponsor, Alderman Sigcho Lopez (25th Ward), wasn't able to convince enough of his colleagues to include it as one of the six meaningless non-binding resolutions that will appear on the next two ballots -- three in the general this year and three for next February's municipal primary ballot.
Regardless, there was no reason to even be considering such a question in the first place. No city "referendum" is going to install a state-wide tax on anyone much less the state's millionaires. Chicago referendums have no role whatever in enacting state-wide policies.
While that folderol failed to make the ballot, another one did. And it, too, is a meaningless measure that is sitting on the ballot for no serious reason -- except to pander to left-wing voters and virtue signal that Johnson and the City Council are down with the struggle.
In fact, the one that did make the ballot is even a step higher in foolishness, as it asks Chicago voters if they think the city should "recoup" the costs of the "economic harm" caused by federal immigration operations in the city.
The referendum asks voters if the city should "pursue all lawful means to recover financial compensation from the federal government for the costs and economic harm caused by the Donald Trump administration's ICE operations."
The fact is, there are no such "lawful means" to force the federal government to give sanctuary city Chicago money because federal immigration officers performed their rightful and legal duties to apprehend and deport criminal illegals in the Windy City.
This is another idiotic and meaningless referendum meant only to virtue signal to the left. Even if it passed, it has no power to achieve the ends stated. The City of Chicago has no power to extract such money, and no constitutional authority to even engage in the discussion over national immigration policy.
It’s all just nonsense that once again proves the Chicago City Council is not made up of serious people.
As to the other two measures that will appear on November's ballot, at least they are things the city has not just the power to enact, but the legal role to do so.
One measure asks voters if they want to reinstate a Shotspotter-styled gunfire detection system to help police identify and react to shootings in the city and a second asks if voters want the city to spend budget dollars to build a permanent outdoor festival venue.
But, again, none of these measures mean anything. They are all non-binding. So, in fact, it doesn’t matter at all what the voters chose because the referendums have no power to act on the questions. If voters want a new Shotspotter system, the resolution won’t get it done. It will still be up to the usual political machinations at City Hall. Same for the festival venue. It’ll get built if the City Council decides it should, not because anyone voted on the referendum.
Regardless, even if the referendums have no real power, if the City Council is going to mess around with such things, they should spend more time on measures like the latter two and less time on the former foolishness they have neither a role to concern themselves with nor the power to put into action.
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