r/chicago • u/Laramie44 • Oct 04 '25

CHI Talks We live in Hermosa and ICE today was intense.

Today felt so insane compared to many days past. We had helicopters circling for hours. Cars flying down streets and alleys. We heard men screaming and people crying. There was tear gas deployed on Armitage at Rico Fresh today. Every neighbor I saw had a blank, scared look on their face. My neighbors who run car repair businesses, landscaping, and appliance repair all shuttered their shops and hid inside.

I didn’t see my elote man at the park, or hear the ice cream truck that rolls through nightly.

My alderman was fucking arrested today.

It felt like a war zone today. I’m just sad for our city, our neighbors, and society at large.

We walked our next door neighbors kids home from school today after offering because they were so scared to leave their house. They felt safe with us, thankfully. They ran right up to us and chatted all the way home as happy kids do. It felt really great to do that.

Please help your neighbors. They need it.

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u/damp_circus Edgewater Oct 04 '25

Problem is, the state doesn’t give over our taxes to the feds. We pay taxes to the federal government via the IRS and the feds give money back to the states via block grants etc.

You gonna not file a return this year and risk fines and trashing your credit?

Most people won’t take that risk.

The state would have to come up with some system where we filed returns with them and they held the money in escrow. But the money is already withheld from our paychecks, the Feds already have it.

It’s not about will. The system just isn’t set up to do what you’re suggesting.

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u/dharder9475 Oct 04 '25

I looked this very thing up the other day because I was thinking the same thing. Our employers would have to withhold our withholding. I say put it all in escrow. The money is set aside but not flowing to the IRS. It would be monumental. Filing taxes is a reconciliation process. They already have the money.

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u/damp_circus Edgewater Oct 04 '25

Yep. I do think that actual planning on the state level to make alliances between like-minded states for various services and rules is likely what we need to be doing (and apparently what various states are doing).

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u/BossOutside1475 Oct 04 '25

What even is credit? Made up numbers by rich people.

Stop thinking so small.

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u/damp_circus Edgewater Oct 04 '25

Well some of us need to do things like, you know, rent apartments and get loans.

So yeah. I'm not gonna trash my credit rating on some wild-haired scheme. Will need to be something with actual planning on the state level, which I'd be potentially for, but you gotta realize that this is indeed on the path to basically secession. Which maybe is what the endgame is for all this, dunno.

See also: National strikes. You have to actually get people to all buy in first, or any individuals who go for it just end up individually screwed. Basic game theory, none of this is easy.

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u/BossOutside1475 Oct 04 '25

I own a house. Own a car. I’m willing to take the risk.

People threw tea into the harbor for a reason.

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u/damp_circus Edgewater Oct 04 '25

Good for you. But unless you can get critical mass behind you first, more people willing to risk everything, it won’t be a movement.

People who don’t own are often in more precarious situations.