Rahm's great ideas

Rahm considering taxing "high net-worth individuals". What a concept! 

Just to prove that I'm not a Rahm hater, I'll give a SmallTalk salute to two things the mayor said this week.

The first was meant as a warning to fellow Democrat bigwigs. Stop focusing so much on Trump and start fighting for middle-class and working families.

Emanuel is worried. He thinks everyone in Washington is too focused on the crazy around Trump to see what’s actually going on — and what’s not... “Talking to ourselves and persuading ourselves,” Emanuel said, “is not going to be the way you get to a majority.” (Politico)

Of course, he then went on and spent the rest of the interview talking about Trump.

But then this:

“I think there are certain things we as a party wandered off from as it relates to being a party that fought for hard working families." (The Hill) 

Okay, so that's one thing. Here's the other:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel may seek new taxes on downtown businesses, “high net-worth individuals” or both to dig the Chicago Public Schools out of a $596 million hole without state help, City Hall sources said Monday. Sources said the new taxes Emanuel is exploring would raise $400 million to $600 million in annual revenue. (Sun-Times)

Wow, what a concept! Making the super-rich and the giant corporations pay their fair share of taxes. I tell you, the man's a genius. Why didn't we think of that?

Oh wait a minute. We did.

As a matter of fact, it was almost three years ago to the day that CTU Prez Karen Lewis proposed a "LaSalle Street" tax to help get the schools and the retirees pension fund out of debt.

Then, in 2015, it was the people's mayoral candidate, Chuy Garcia calling for a "financial transaction tax". 

As you might remember, both calls were met with great disdain by City Hall, the city's newspapers, and of course, by the business sector. The state legislature went so far as to knowingly pass an unconstitutional pension-theft bill rather than reform the tax code so that the wealthiest paid their fair share.

But that's all in the past. This week, with the rest of the school year hanging in the balance, with the city council demanding an explanation, and with the governor still holding the state's school budget hostage, Rahm came up with a stroke of brilliance.

Tax the rich. Of course it's just an idea. But still...