Public employees' retirement funds have been hit hard not only by the weak economy but also by early-retirement offers, wage increases and the Chicago Public Schools' partial "pension holiday," which has allowed the district to reduce its pension contributions.
2005: Lawmakers approve a "partial pension holiday" for Financial Years 2006 and 2007.
But payroll tax rates have varied over time, most recently with the partial payroll tax holiday of 2011 and 2012 (interestingly, the Obama administration refers to the two-point reduction as a "tax cut").
With the exception of a partial payroll tax holiday in 2011 and 2012, few American taxpayers saw a significant change in the personal income or payroll tax rules during the years 2007 13.
The city-run school system's contribution to pensions will triple to $600 million in fiscal 2014 due largely to the expiration of a three-year partial pension funding holiday passed by the Illinois Legislature in 2010, the analysis said.
The movie economy is, more than ever, organized around opening-weekend grosses, with the partial exception of the holiday season, when a crowd of awards contenders is thinned out through a Darwinian releasing schedule.
"Just in case anyone still thinks a partial shutdown over a holiday weekend is harmless, think again," Tony Reardon of the National Treasury Employees Union said in a statement.
The national Christmas tree, symbol of a country's seasonal cheer, instead stood as an icon of a government in paralysis, as the partial shutdown stretched into the holiday with an array of federal services frozen, some 800,000 public servants either idled or about to be and the disruption to the broader public bound to grow when the quiet spell ends later this week.
Today's news is the latest in what's been an uncharacteristically noisy holiday season for Samsung, including the recent partial announcement of two 5G phones due out next year.
Among all the ways to celebrate the holidays, we can't help but be partial to the Mediterranean tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a seafood-centric dinner that takes place on Christmas Eve.
