Public Finance Attorney David J. Fernandez Discusses Problems in Chicago’s 2016 Budget

Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago recently proposed a 2016 budget of $588 million that includes one of the largest property taxes in the city’s history. Public finance attorney David J. Fernandez noted on Examiner.com that the massive property tax is “mostly on the backs of the commercial sector” and explained that these businesses might leave if they “get fed up and if the hit takes too much [out of them].” The article explains that Detroit and Atlanta might be examples of other cities businesses could migrate to from Chicago.

Fernandez compares the budget proposal to “putting a finger on the dyke to keep it from leaking” and emphasizes the need for “a fiscal agency to consolidate debt, free up capital, pay off and restructure debt,” like New York City did in the 1970s.

He also emphasizes that regressive taxes won’t work because “while it is an attempt to generate revenue, [they] affect only a small proportion of the population, and those that will be disobedient will refuse to pay; it’s an endless method with no end in sight.”

Read the full article – “Can Chicago's 2016 budget work in the long run?” (Examiner.com, November 23, 2015)