Budget gridlock in Springfield caused the Illinois secretary of state’s office to suspend mailing vehicle-registration-renewal reminders in October 2015; as a result, during the first three months of 2016, the state took in $2.7 million more in fees for late license-plate renewal than it did during the same period in 2015.
Creating a tax increment financing district around the Lathrop Homes redevelopment will ensure that 100 percent of property-tax revenue generated on the site will go to a city-run slush fund.
Since 1990, the average property-tax bill in Illinois has grown more than three times faster than the state's median household income.
In an effort to shore up pension debt, Chicago officials in 2014 adopted a pension-reform package that included raising the telephone tax. Though the Illinois Supreme Court struck down these changes, the tax hike remains.
Even with the city’s record tax hike and massive borrowing, lack of reform means Chicagoans can expect to open up their wallets yet again.
The governor can exercise the veto power in four different ways: a total veto, an amendatory veto, an item veto and a reduction veto.
The combined federal, state, county and city taxes on alcohol result in a 28 percent effective tax rate on a bottle of spirits bought in Chicago.
In light of the Illinois General Assembly’s refusal to pass a balanced budget, the Unbalanced Budget Response Act is a prudent measure that would temporarily allow the governor to shift funds and reduce spending to balance the state’s budget.
While Illinois motorists have seen the country’s second-highest increase in gas prices, Chicagoans pay even higher prices at the pump due to multiple layers of city, county and state taxation.
Illinois’ budget gridlock has prevented the state from making payments on some 200 auto liability claims worth $560,000.
CSU's bloated administration costs more than $3,600 per student, by far the highest of all Illinois' public colleges and universities. By comparison, the average MAP grant at CSU is $2,600 per student.
Combined sales taxes in Illinois have leaped past those of every other state in the region.
More than two-thirds of fiscal year 2016 has passed with the state lacking an overall budget.
While the mayor is right to say that expanding the downtown development area is a “win-win” for developers and poor communities, expanding downtown without the mayor’s proposed new tax on developers and inflexible size restrictions would be a bigger win for both.