Learn more about our policy briefs, research reports, and special publications here.
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5/17/2013
Requiring school districts to pay the employer share of their employees’ 401(k)-style retirement savings plans creates an incentive to be more prudent with the compensation packages they award.
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4/23/2013
One of the most common narratives regarding the pension crisis
in Illinois is that the state’s five pension systems are underfunded
because politicians “skipped” pension payments.
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4/23/2013
This memo provides a review of the “funding guarantee” provisions found in the pension reform bills that currently are or have been under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly.
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3/8/2013
Without fiscal notes, lawmakers still shopping without price tags
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3/6/2013
Medicaid Solutions: Florida’s Medicaid cure for Illinois’ ailing program
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12/20/2012
In 2010, the Illinois Policy Institute reported that Illinois is a high-tax state with a tax burden in the top third of all states.
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12/4/2012
Illinois lawmakers have a choice before them. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, permits but does not require states to expand their Medicaid programs to those up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
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12/1/2012
Compass is the Institute's quarterly magazine, featuring profiles on Liberty Leaders, policy updates, event recaps and more!
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11/26/2012
This report highlights just a few reasons why lawmakers should say no to creating a state-funded exchange.
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11/12/2012
The Great Recession and Illinois’ minimum wage, which is fourth-highest in the nation, have combined to make job hunting bleak for teens.
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10/23/2012
New jobs data shows decade-long pain for Illinois entrepreneurs, small business owners
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10/7/2012
Chicago’s charter schools are proving, once again, that low-income children can succeed if given a chance.
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8/16/2012
Illinois reports that it owes $83 billion to its five public pension funds. Unfortunately, this $83 billion figure grossly understates the pension crisis facing Illinois.
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5/30/2012
This week, lawmakers are debating whether local school districts should be held responsible for the retirement benefits of their employees. Here are five reasons why local pension accountability makes sense and why the changes are financially manageable.
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5/24/2012
Implementing ObamaCare early will lead to a higher tax burden on Illinois families.
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5/21/2012
This Medicaid reform proposal includes 59 reforms with a total savings of $2.788 billion.
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5/17/2012
The Institute has developed the following menu of $1.7 billion in Medicaid reforms that cut spending
and do not include any tax increases or the dramatic rate cuts that Quinn has proposed.
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5/10/2012
Charter schools are dramatically altering the way students learn. More choices mean that more families can match up the best school with their children's needs. But in suburban and downstate Illinois they are locked into a failing system.
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5/8/2012
At a time when state resources are scarce, it’s especially important for taxpayers and lawmakers alike to know how state dollars are being spent.
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5/2/2012
A bird's eye view of Illinois education spending reveals that the state's intention of sending dollars to poorer districts is blunted by the state's obligation to pay local teachers' pensions.
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4/24/2012
In February, Gov. Quinn told lawmakers that in order to rescue Illinois’ Medicaid program, the state would need to “reduce expenditures in the program by $2.7 billion” for fiscal year 2013. But the plan he released in April does not reduce expenditures by
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4/9/2012
Illinois state government owes more than $83 billion to the pension plans it operates for retired employees; servicing this obligation is crippling the state’s budget. But pension debt is only part of the story.
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3/8/2012
This is the Illinois Policy Institute’s fourth annual alternative vision for Illinois. We’ve charted a path that significantly reduces the state’s backlog of bills without borrowing and without new taxes, while meeting its pension liabilities.
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2/28/2012
The state has promised, in today’s dollars, nearly $44 billion in retiree health benefits to government employees over the next thirty years. Unfortunately, it has not set aside any funds for those future payments.
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2/28/2012
While a number of people are urging the state to immediately create an ObamaCare exchange, the reasons are based on myths, not facts. In this report, we respond to those myths.
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2/16/2012
In the 2011 Legislative Vote Card, the Illinois Policy Institute shines a light on the floor votes in Springfield that mattered most during the calendar year, including key votes from the early January session of the outgoing 96th General Assembly.
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2/8/2012
If your personal finances were a mess and your bank account dry, would you shop without looking at price tags? But that’s exactly what Illinois' 97th General Assembly did in 2011, when fewer than 2 percent of laws passed included a fiscal note.
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1/26/2012
One year after Illinois’ Democratic leaders pushed through a record tax hike, the grades are in. The tax hike flunked.
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1/26/2012
Failed policies lead more Illinoisans down path of unemployment.
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1/12/2012
Results of a poll conducted on behalf of the Illinois Policy Institute.
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1/6/2012
This three-part series by the Illinois Policy Institute specifically focuses on the impact rising retirement costs will have on education funding at various levels.
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1/6/2012
CPS pension costs rising faster than state aid can keep up.
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1/5/2012
State spending on teacher retirements soon will exceed aid to downstate and suburban schools.
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1/4/2012
Higher education in Illinois is approaching a funding crisis. By fiscal year 2013, the state is set to appropriate more to public university pensions and other retirement costs than it will to support all other higher education programs.
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12/20/2011
Illinois residents are fleeing the state. When people leave, they take their purchasing power, entrepreneurial activity and taxable income with them.
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12/5/2011
Rod Blagojevich’s tenure as governor of Illinois will have a lasting effect on the state’s reputation and fiscal condition. From January 2003 to January 2009, Blagojevich made headlines for his sensational comments, political feuds and backroom deals.
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11/28/2011
The latest version of Senate Bill 397, as recently amended, is quickly working its way through the political channels in Springfield. Included in this bill is a proposal to expand the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit to as high as 15 percent in 2013.
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11/16/2011
Although agency expenditures going back to fiscal year 2009 remain available on the website, state employee salaries for calendar year 2008 and 2009 have been removed from the website.
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11/14/2011
Pensions may be larger than they appear
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11/11/2011
Excise taxes are not traditional
taxes on income or consumption.
Instead, they are special taxes that
target specific goods.
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11/8/2011
Earlier this year, Illinois lawmakers purportedly passed a budget that reduced overall state spending. As part of this supposed budget reform, the state’s runaway Medicaid budget was to be brought under control.
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10/26/2011
Illinois needs sustainable private sector job growth. Yet in the midst of continued economic troubles, political leaders enacted a state law that is driving technology-driven jobs away.
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10/20/2011
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, will make Medicaid more expensive and worsen care for those who need it most by adding more people to a failing program.
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10/20/2011
Official estimates put Illinois’ unfunded pension liability at $85.6 billion. But that amount does not take into account the $25.8 billion in pension obligation bond (POB) payments still outstanding.
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10/20/2011
When online learning becomes a priority at the school, district or state level, innovative solutions to old problems begin to emerge.
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10/13/2011
Many teachers contribute nothing; taxpayers shoulder burden.
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10/11/2011
The Legislative Vote Card is the Illinois Policy Institute’s attempt to shine a light on the votes in Springfield that matter most. This is the second installment of the Vote Card.
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9/30/2011
More than a decade ago, CPS began an experiment that allowed independent groups and neighborhood organizations to start their own open enrollment schools: charter schools. Today, charter schools are topping the education charts.
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9/20/2011
Results of a poll conducted on behalf of the Manhattan Institute and the Illinois Policy Institute.
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9/15/2011
For a second month in a row, Illinois holds the unenviable position of leading the nation in negative jobs data. This month, the bad news is in the number of unemployed Illinoisans.
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8/23/2011
Since the January 2011 tax hike, Illinoisans have seen more of their household budgets go to shoulder the growing cost of government employee compensation packages – packages made up of overly generous pay and perks that many can only dream of.
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8/23/2011
For most Illinois families, the price of the January 2011 state income tax hike is an additional week’s wages lost to state coffers. But for some, the cost has been much higher as jobs disappear altogether.
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8/19/2011
Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report. After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm payroll jobs in July.
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8/11/2011
While states were assured a few days later that Uncle Sam’s credit problems would likely not lower their own ratings, Illinois’s credit rating is likely to take another beating – and not because of the national debt.
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7/21/2011
The Institute evaluates the performance of the seven downstate and suburban charter schools that enrolled K-12 students during the 2009-10 school
year.
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6/28/2011
As Chicago families plan their Fourth of July travel, they are consistently faced with the nation's highest gas prices.
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6/21/2011
State spending will increase in 2012. That is, unless additional cuts and policy changes are added to the general fund budget currently awaiting Gov. Quinn’s signature.
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6/9/2011
Illinois lawmakers have been patting themselves on the back for supposedly holding the line on spending and getting rid of wasteful projects. Should taxpayers buy into this newfound “fiscal responsibility?” No.
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6/1/2011
Top 14% of earners are paying 56% of income tax collections.
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5/27/2011
The total cost of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) in 2012 will exceed the amount of general funds appropriated to all other higher education agencies and institutions.
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5/25/2011
Results of a poll commissioned by the Illinois Policy Institute.
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5/20/2011
Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar recently expressed concerns that pension reform could cause “an exit of quality people in state government.” How worried should we be?
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5/20/2011
Every dollar spent by government – and every job bankrolled by government – is made possible by the men and women who work in the private sector. Taxes on their productive activity pay the public sector’s bills.
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5/11/2011
Bold action is needed to balance the state’s pension funds while keeping Illinois from falling into an economic death spiral.
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5/11/2011
In January, Gov. Pat Quinn signed a 67 percent income tax hike into law. While it was sold as necessary to pay down the state’s operating debt, the comptroller is now reporting that Illinois’s debt backlog at the end of the year will be around $8 billion.
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4/27/2011
Expanded and updated, you’ll find this book on lawmakers’ desks and in the hands of grassroots activists. The Guide provides concise summaries of the top public policy issues facing our state.
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4/15/2011
State will collect over $7 billion in new taxes.
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3/8/2011
Budget Solutions 2012 is an alternative budget that does not rely on the state’s recent tax hikes as a revenue source, does not include borrowing and has positive cash flow for fiscal year 2012.
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2/28/2011
HB1569 would modify the State Employees Group Insurance Act of 1971 to create an optional alternative health insurance program for state employees, a combination of a Health Savings Account and a qualifying, state-sponsored, High-Deductible Health Plan.
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2/28/2011
Taxpayers deserve to know information about the governments they fund. Illinois has thousands of units of local government, but key information about most of them is not readily available to average citizens.
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2/15/2011
Since the record tax hikes were passed last month, everyday staples have become less affordable for many families. Will state lawmakers respect the sacrifices they are making and budget responsibly?
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2/7/2011
Excess red tape hurts business. Where superfluous laws and regulations prevail, businesses and individuals lose out.
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2/2/2011
Cost of tax hike equivalent to average Illinois paycheck – gone.
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1/19/2011
The average Illinois household faces an increase of nearly $1,500 in its state income tax bill.
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1/12/2011
Migration between the U.S. states is the ultimate expression of “voting with your feet.” People move for many reasons, but, when examined en masse, it’s clear that public policy significantly influences where people choose to live.
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1/11/2011
Illinois families are struggling. Businesses face uncertainty. The economy remains stuck in the doldrums. In the midst of this, Governor Pat Quinn is pushing a state income tax increase that will result in a $1,353 personal income hit.
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1/11/2011
Illinoisans should be wary of plans to hike taxes at the state level that would all but wipe out the benefits of the bipartisan tax compromise between President Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans.
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1/11/2011
The projections for a 66 increase to the income tax – a hike from 3 to 5 percent – with the standard $2,000 per person deduction.
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1/7/2011
A vote for the tax hike is a vote for hastening Illinois’s economic decline.
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1/5/2011
Controlling the future growth of government spending is key to solving Illinois’s budget crisis. Done properly, tax and expenditure limits are a good way to ensure that government outlays do not grow faster than the public’s ability to pay.
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1/3/2011
Controlling the future growth of government spending is key to solving the state’s budget crisis and turning Illinois’s economy around.
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1/3/2011
All spending limits are not created equal. How they are written and implemented goes a long way in determining if they’ll meet their underlying goals of promoting fiscal stability and responsibility.
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12/20/2010
Families are watching their budgets and managing spending as efficiently as possible, focusing on necessities and eliminating unessential spending. Government at every level should do the same—while some are, others are not.
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12/15/2010
Illinois’s inability to pay vendors on time is destabilizing many businesses with state contracts while at the same time hurting Illinois’s most vulnerable.
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12/14/2010
How Illinois tax burden compares with neighboring states.
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12/13/2010
On December 13, Kristina Rasmussen submitted written testimony to the Illinois House of Representatives Special Committee on Medicaid Reform.
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12/8/2010
Are low-tax states outperforming high-tax states?
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12/3/2010
Kate Piercy's testimony to the Special Committee on Workers' Compensation Reform.
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12/1/2010
Encouraging volunteerism among Illinois’s senior citizens is a worthy goal, with many benefits for both individual volunteers and those they serve.
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11/17/2010
Illinois is top 10 in pay for Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, and Comptroller.
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11/10/2010
Debunking the myth that Charter schools have a higher-than-usual rate of students transferring out to other places of learning.
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11/4/2010
Chicago’s charter schools show that a team of reform-minded schools can turn the tide
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11/3/2010
The World Shooting and Recreation Complex (WSRC) in Sparta, Illinois was completed in 2006 at a construction cost of $31.5 million (as well as another $18 million for road, water, and sewer improvement). The 1,600-acre facility includes 746 RV campsites,
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11/1/2010
Thanks to an unfriendly business and regulatory climate, Illinois has been underperforming for years.
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10/20/2010
Do you wonder how busy downtown traffic is able to go and stop in Chicago? Is it because Chicago has traffic control aides in the streets?
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10/18/2010
Illinois has a sorry history of crooked governors, but has limited options when it comes to removing them.
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10/12/2010
Although tax increment financing (TIF) has been around for over thirty years, many people do not understand how it works, how it affects their communities or their pocketbooks.
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10/5/2010
If You Build It, Debt Will Come: A Closer Look at the Illinois Capital Spending Spree, presented by the Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste.
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9/29/2010
When it comes to health insurance, Illinois faces a looming dilemma. State government spending on core services is increasingly squeezed by the cost of health insurance for state employees and retirees. Meanwhile, state workers face limited options.
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9/29/2010
On September 29th, 2010, Kristina Rasmussen gave testimony on online taxation.
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9/27/2010
$3 billion, $5 billion, $10 billion—the talk surrounding impending federal and state tax hikes is downright scary these days. The sheer magnitude of these amounts can be difficult for taxpayers to put into perspective.
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9/23/2010
An analysis from the Illinois Policy Institute on lawmakers' voting records on key issues.
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9/22/2010
Is the Illinois film tax credit program really helping the economy…or is it smoke
and mirrors?
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9/7/2010
Generous salaries for a failing agency.
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9/1/2010
Congress should pass, and President Barack Obama should sign, a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts. Illinois lawmakers should reject calls to increase the state income tax.
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8/5/2010
The stifling impact of Illinois’s Certificate of Need program.
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8/5/2010
When Illinois schools are failing, it’s time to copy Florida’s winning strategies.
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7/29/2010
It’s time to consider making changes to the State Fair.
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7/22/2010
Although facing a serious budget deficit, Illinois legislators remain among the best compensated in the nation. Today, Illinois state representatives and senators earn a base salary of $67,836—the fifth-highest legislator salary in the country.
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7/21/2010
Legislators should know what bills cost.
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7/14/2010
One out of every four dollars from general funds is spent on public employee compensation.
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7/9/2010
Illinois state spending has increased significantly over the past decade, increasing 26 percent after inflation from 2000 to 2009.
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7/7/2010
When an “Economic Boost” is more of a drain.
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7/1/2010
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s new budget “fix” indicates he’s living in a fiscal fairy tale.
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6/30/2010
Rather than giving a competitive edge to a select few companies through initiatives like the Employer Training Investment Program, Illinois needs to improve the overall business climate for all companies to help spur economic growth.
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6/30/2010
Illinois should not increase its minimum wage rate to $8.25 on July 1, 2010. A preferable option would include at least keeping it at the current rate. Even better, the state should reduce it to the minimum rate set by the federal government.
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6/29/2010
List of books from speakers that we've hosted for Institute events.
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6/23/2010
Illinois’s energy resources should be utilized to provide Illinois’s families and businesses with reliable sources of power. However, Illinois is unnecessarily picking winners and losers, distorting energy prices, and driving up prices up.
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6/16/2010
Illinois taxpayers often struggle to fund higher education costs for their own families; they should not be funding higher education for state employees as well. The Upward Mobility Program should be eliminated.
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6/9/2010
Rather than giving special benefits to a few specific tourist attractions, Illinois needs to consider new avenues for attracting tourists, such as decreasing the cost of visiting Illinois by lowering taxes.
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6/8/2010
The most important policy adopted by any school or school district is its contract with its teachers. This guide helps new and aspiring school board members in Illinois with collective bargaining.
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6/3/2010
Implementing regulatory reforms in the areas of workers’ compensation, minimum wage, and state licensing and fees would create a more favorable business climate in Illinois, attracting more businesses, more jobs, and more state revenue to our state.
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6/2/2010
Historically, public employees have faced a trade-off: lower wages than the private sector in exchange for job security and generous benefits. That trade-off, however, has been disappearing.
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5/21/2010
Illinois state government recently has taken some important steps toward greater transparency. However, the common activities of Illinois institutions are still often difficult for taxpayers to observe.
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5/20/2010
Collin Hitt reviews the performance of downstate and suburban
charter schools for the 2008-09 school year.
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5/2/2010
Senate Bill 2494 creates a pilot program to give parents in Chicago’s lowest-performing and most severely overcrowded schools educational options. Learn the specifics of this bill here.
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4/21/2010
ineteen studies have been conducted in cities and states where school voucher programs have
been created. Eighteen of them find significant improvement in public school performance.
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4/21/2010
Illinois’s budget is broken—that’s a fact accepted by almost all Prairie State policy analysts. The state has more than $6 billion in accumulated operating debt, to say nothing of the $83 billion in unfunded public employee pension liabilities.
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4/15/2010
Kate Piercy's testimony submitted to the Senate Executive Committee on
HB 4836, the Sunshine Commission Act.
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4/7/2010
The Illinois Policy Institute’s Budget Solutions 2011 offers an alternative spending blueprint that addresses our state’s immediate problems rather than kicking the can further down the road.
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3/24/2010
This report, prepared by the Institute for Justice, says SB294 is constitutional under both the federal Establishment Clause and the Illinois Constitution.
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3/23/2010
How one village is taking a business approach to local government. Read the report from Kate Piercy.
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3/18/2010
A detailed explanation of some of the education spending choices made in Budget Solutions 2011.
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3/15/2010
Budget Solutions 2011 addresses our state’s immediate problems rather than kicking the can further down the road. It contains three elements: spending realignments, right-sizing government labor costs, and pension funding reform.
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3/12/2010
Welcome to our inaugural Legislators’ Guide to the Issues. We have broken down the relevant, pressing issues facing Illinois today into 2-4 page summaries, detailing the problem and offering specific solutions to putting Illinois back on the right track.
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3/10/2010
Tired of scouring the web for records of state budgets in years passed? The Illinois Policy Institute has archived budgets from fiscal year 2005 here for your convenience.
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3/10/2010
Here is a chart that breaks down household spending of the average Midwestern household by category. We ask Governor Quinn and would-be tax hike supporters: What should families cut from their household budgets to make room for higher tax bills?
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3/10/2010
John O'Hara of the Illinois Policy Institute gives an immediate response to Governor Quinn's budget address in which he called for a 33% income tax increase.
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3/10/2010
On March 10 Kate Piercy testified before the Illinois House of Representatives State Government Administration Committee in regards to improvements in the Open Meetings Act. Read her testimony.
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3/4/2010
The Institute has outlined a series of reforms focused on bringing jobs, responsible spending, and accountable government back to Illinois. Our solutions address some of the root causes of Illinois’s financial problems.
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3/4/2010
On March 4, Kristina Rasmussen testified before the Illinois House of Representatives Family & Children Services Committee about Medicaid transparency.
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3/3/2010
The overwhelming majority of the science on red light cameras shows red light cameras clearly don’t serve the cause of traffic safety, and they should be pulled down quicker than they were put up.
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3/3/2010
The Rev. Senator James Meeks has proposed legislation that would create a school voucher program in Illinois. Similar pilot school voucher programs have been created throughout the country and have been thoroughly researched.
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3/3/2010
On March 3, Kristina Rasmussen testified before the Illinois House of Representatives Health Care Licenses Committee about hair braider licensing. She says the current licensing regulations are onerous and stand in the way job-creating entrepreneurs.
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2/24/2010
On February 23, Kristina Rasmussen testified before the Illinois Senate Appropriations Committee on the State Budget. Download her complete testimony here.
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2/16/2010
Residents of Illinois demand clear and safe roads. State and local agencies must budget and prepare for the winter season, and then perform up to certain standards when the snow comes. Otherwise, we risk losing money, time and lives.
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2/9/2010
We’ve joined with Citizens Against Government Waste to put together the book that Springfield doesn’t want you to read, highlighting over $350 million in wasteful spending.
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1/13/2010
“Ahead of the Curve: An Introduction to Public School Reform in Illinois” outlines three policy alternatives to Illinois’s current system of public education: charter schools, weighted student funding, and tuition tax credits.
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12/22/2009
For Illinois, 2009 should have been a year of opportunity. A year to move beyond petty squabbles. A year to fix Illinois’s perennially busted budget. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Illinois ends calendar 2009 much in the way it ended 2008.
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12/17/2009
This new report from the Institute reviews current levels of privatization in Illinois’s public schools and provides helpful advice to state and local policymakers.
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12/9/2009
Illinois needs workable energy solutions that protect the environment. Any solutions, though, must be grounded in objective, verifiable scientific data and sound economic principles. Cap and trade doesn't pass that test.
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11/23/2009
None of the health care “reforms” offered by Congressional Democratic leaders will address the growing health care wedge and its role in rising health care costs and will instead cost Illinois 169,000 jobs - $4,418 for each person in the state.
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10/27/2009
A new report from the Illinois Policy Institute and the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) gives Illinois’s public university system a failing grade in cost, as well as governance, general education and intellectual diversity.
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10/13/2009
Increasing tobacco taxes would have several negative consequences for Illinois. They hurt retail jobs, hit the poor especially hard, and produce diminishing amounts of revenue.
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9/30/2009
Collin Hitt, the Institute's Director of Education Policy, analyzes the benefits of charter schools specifically for Hispanic Students.
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9/23/2009
The latest report from Collin Hitt, the Institute's Director of Education Policy, demonstrates that charter schools produce higher graduation rates and makes the case for the state legislature to lift the cap on charter schools in Chicago and statewide.
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9/17/2009
When it comes to limited government, state constitution ranks in the bottom ten of nationwide assessment according to a report by the Goldwater Institute.
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9/10/2009
Several years ago, the Village of Glenview was facing mounting costs and a looming deficit. Then, the Board changed the way it did its business and made Glenview an example to follow.
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9/3/2009
One major aspect of health care plans being developed on Capitol Hill has received relatively scant attention. House and Senate Democrats are planning on significantly expanding Medicaid, which would come with a significant price tag.
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9/3/2009
Public option plans, health care rationing, and new surtaxes and fines – health care “reform” is receiving significant attention from a concerned public.
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8/26/2009
Reverse auctions would lead to more transparency and increased efficiency for Illinois's government.
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8/21/2009
State spending in Illinois has skyrocketed over the past decade, increasing 39 percent from 1998 to 2008.
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7/29/2009
The Institute examines the scary side of government healthcare.
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7/27/2009
High-speed rail has been touted as a clean, lowcost alternative to congested roads. A closer look
at the facts shows otherwise.
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7/20/2009
This report looks at how other states are addressing their budget shortfalls without pushing tax hikes on families and businesses when they can least afford them.
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7/16/2009
These numbers provide a closer look at why the second largest county in America faces a declining population.
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7/9/2009
High-speed rail is a technology whose time has come and gone. What might have been useful a century ago is today merely an anachronism
that will cost taxpayers tens or hundreds of billions of dollars yet contribute little to mobility.
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6/24/2009
This brief presents and corrects myths about the Illinois budget deficit.
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6/23/2009
Hundreds of communities and neighborhoods throughout Illinois are badly in need of better schools. In those communities it should be a realistic option
for innovative educators to create new school choices for students and their families.
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6/4/2009
State spending in Illinois has skyrocketed over the past decade, leaving Illinois in a tight spot.
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6/4/2009
The Illinois Policy Institute recently released an alternative budget plan called Budget Solutions. Here are ten Budget Solutions steps legislators can take to balance the budget.
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5/29/2009
Charter schools rival top state graduation rates and offer a chance to fix Chicago Public Schools. It is time to lift the cap on charter schools so that all Illinois children have the opportunity for an excellent education.
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5/29/2009
This report examines urban charter school graduation rates.
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5/27/2009
Are tax hikes or “doomsday” budget cuts really necessary to balance the state budget? No. The Illinois Policy Institute has put together a new report, Budget Solutions 2010, that shows a variety of ways to balance the
budget—all without tax hikes.
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5/26/2009
In Illinois, there is a significant wage gap between government and private-sector workers. At a time when Illinois is facing a serious budget shortfall, all areas of government spending should be carefully reviewed--including public employee pay.
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5/26/2009
With all of the budget woes facing Illinois, it's enough to make a weary taxpayer wish for a 'budgetary superhero' to come and save the day. There are no superpowers required: just sensible reductions in spending.
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5/26/2009
Deficits don't appear out of nowhere, especially not with our state's irresponsible spending habits. This report presents some wasteful programs funded by the state with taxpayer dollars.
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5/26/2009
Government has become a glutton. In Illinois, a voracious spending appetite has led the state budget to balloon from $24.7 billion in 2004 to $32.2 billion in 2009. This report designs a sensible expenditure limit for Illinois.
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5/26/2009
The Institute proposes cost-cutting reforms for Illinois. Implementing statewide transparency and creating a Council on Efficient Government would bring the much-needed change to Illinois.
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5/25/2009
This performance report of downstate and suburban charter schools shows their growing success.
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5/6/2009
The U.S. government has been busy issuing stress tests to the nation's largest banks to see if they are solvent. How about a stress test for the government itself? Learn more about the Illinois Policy Institute's stress test for the government.
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4/30/2009
On July 1, 2008, the Cook County sales tax increased from .75% to 1.75%. This high sales tax is pushing consumers to neighboring cities and leaving Cook County at a loss.
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3/30/2009
If taxpayers would get a better deal by contracting with a nonprofit firm or private company, it should behoove policymakers to use similar opportunities before resorting to tax hikes or service cuts.
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3/26/2009
The American Legislative Council has updated their Rich States/Poor States report for 2009. This report evaluates the fiscal and economic policies of each of the 50 states- and in Illinois, things aren't looking so good.
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3/24/2009
Gov. Quinn's proposed $2.6 billion personal income tax hike will take more from Illinoisans than they may know. Learn how this tax increase will soak the Illinois economy of $8.6 billion in economic output.
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3/18/2009
In a new report, the Illinois Policy Institute reveals that a wide range of Illinois citizens will be targeted by Governor Quinn's tax hike.
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3/16/2009
On March 16, 2009 Institute Executive Vice President Kristina Rasmussen testified before the Illinois General Assembly’s
Joint Committee on Government Reform regarding taxpayer financing of political campaigns.
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3/11/2009
Illinois desperately needs economic reform. The Economic Reform Agenda contains four, common-sense proposals that will get government spending under control and help to grow the economy.
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2/27/2009
Privatization can increase educational options and opportunities for students across the state.
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1/9/2009
How does your hard-earned money get diverted to private developers so that they can build expensive projects in your neighborhood without your input? It’s all through something called Tax Increment Financing, more commonly known as a “TIF.”
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11/4/2008
Government has attempted to help the uninsured gain access to health care by continually expanding public insurance programs. Yet many people with private insurance are opting to drop it (when they can afford it) to go on public coverage.
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10/29/2008
Imagine you’re about to have heart surgery. Would you want your doctor operating on your heart in the dark? Or without looking at your x-ray first? Without an x-ray, he wouldn’t know where to operate, the severity of your sickness or understand exactly wh
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10/15/2008
The Illinois Policy Institute has obtained the questions from the Pioneer Press, which publishes about 50 local newspapers throughout Illinois.
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9/23/2008
Out of the 50 states, Illinois ranks 48th in economic performance. According to the ALEC-Laffer State Competitiveness Index, Illinois is doing better than only two states: Michigan and Ohio.
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9/17/2008
Imagine for a moment that your father, brother or husband had prostate cancer. That is bad enough, of course, but now imagine that they had to unnecessarily wait in long lines to get the most advanced and least invasive treatment possible, or perhaps, no
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8/21/2008
These are not partisan proposals. They are simply the only way that Illinois can bring back the jobs, prosperity, and commerce needed to sustain us in the future.
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7/24/2008
The Institute's latest policy brief is an in-depth examination of privatization practices in Illinois' public schools.
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6/25/2008
Too difficult to enforce and economically risky, insurance mandates are not the answer to America's health care dilemma.
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6/24/2008
The latest Illinois Policy Institute brief explains why cap-and-trade policies would cause more problems than they would solve.
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5/20/2008
The current Illinois gas tax burden is the fourth highest in the country.
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4/9/2008
We’ve joined with Citizens Against Government Waste to put together the book that Springfield doesn’t want you to read, highlighting over $686 million in wasteful spending.
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4/3/2008
Opening The Books In Illinois: Basic Transparency For Better Government
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4/1/2008
Illinois' Medicaid program suffers from a number of maladies that increase costs for all while deteriorating service for its enrollees. Among these are a perverse set of incentives that perpetuate a culture of dependency and block potential reforms.
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3/27/2008
Many Illinois citizens, facing unaffordable insurance costs within state borders, are forced to cross their fingers when it comes to their family’s health. It doesn’t have to be this way.
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3/20/2008
How much would an expanded educational tax credit system cost in Illinois? Collin Hitt reports that it's not just a good deal for students--it could also save the state billions of dollars.
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1/31/2008
Learn more about roadblocks to these innovative schools in the Institute's latest policy brief.
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1/25/2008
Illinois' Health Facilities Board has no rationale for continued existence. Greg Blankenship explains why--and how we can change the system for the better.
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1/11/2008
'This is not a fairy tale': The Illinois Policy Institute released its analysis of the deal to
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1/1/2008
In December 2007 the Illinois Policy Institute joined the Milton and Rose Friedman Foundation in a comprehensive poll on school choice with significant results. Four out of 5 would choose a school other than a traditional public school for their children.
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12/13/2007
4 out of 5 Illinois voters would pull their children out of public schools if they had the choice...read more about our latest education poll here.
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11/26/2007
The CTA's $158 million dollar deficit calls for long term solutions that a bailout won't fix. The Institute's brief offers some suggestions.
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11/26/2007
Illinois needs both short-term and long-term solutions to deal with looming budget crises.
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11/26/2007
The Institute's e-newsletter from November 26 has more to say about the CTA.
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8/16/2007
Liberty Leaders are our spokespeople for liberty in Illinois. Learn more about how to work as a volunteer in our innovative program.
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1/1/2007
Improving access and quality without breaking the bank
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6/5/2006
The book Springfield doesn't want you to read.
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3/26/2006
It is no wonder that those who are heavily invested in the notion of clean government believe that various cosmetic changes will purify what ails us.
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10/19/2005
Institute president Greg Blankenship explains the need for better value and customer service within Illinois government.
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9/23/2005
Why local funding is the best way to publicly finance education.
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