Promises and politics: Lawmakers consider whether to make the temporary income tax hike permanent
Promises and politics: Lawmakers consider whether to make the temporary income tax hike permanent
In 2011, Illinois lawmakers passed the largest income tax increase in the state’s history with the promise that the increase would sunset in 2015 and income tax rates would return to their previous rates. In other words, the income tax increase was made to be temporary. Today, on the cusp of the income tax increase...
By Donovan Griffith
Chicago drivers gouged at the pump this Memorial Day weekend
Chicago drivers gouged at the pump this Memorial Day weekend
An estimated 32 million drivers will hit the road this Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA. And those leaving from the Chicago area will feel much more pain at the pump. The national average for a gallon of gas is $3.65. In Illinois, the average price per gallon is $3.83. But the average price per...
By Hilary Gowins
Madigan’s millionaire tax returns
Madigan’s millionaire tax returns
House Speaker Mike Madigan couldn’t get a progressive tax hike on the November ballot. His next effort, to get an extension of the tax hike, has failed so far. Now, he is back with yet another money-grab scheme. Madigan has proposed an advisory referendum on the fall ballot proposing a millionaire surcharge. (An advisory referendum...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes
Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes
Fifty percent of all Illinoisans would leave the state if they could. Twenty-five percent think it’s the worst state to live in. Another 72 percent don’t trust their government. These numbers came from three recent Gallup polls. In all three surveys, no state polled worse than Illinois. You’d think with results like that, the last...
Illinois: $27 billion in tax increases since 2011
Illinois: $27 billion in tax increases since 2011
A new report by Americans for Tax Reform shows that Democratic governors have enacted more than $58 billion in tax increases since 2011. Republican governors, on the other hand, have collectively signed more than $36 billion in tax cuts. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, one of the nation’s top five most tax-happy governors, has signed 29 tax increases...
No room in Illinois family budget for another tax hike
No room in Illinois family budget for another tax hike
Illinois politicians are nervous. They don’t yet have the votes to pass another tax hike, and they’ve done nothing to prepare a balanced budget under the actual 2015 income tax rates. Now they’ve resorted to guilting Illinoisans into paying higher taxes. We’re all familiar with these stories by now. Politicians have focused on narratives that...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Proposed Illinois budget overspends by $3 billion
Proposed Illinois budget overspends by $3 billion
Have you ever wondered why Illinois’ budget is such a mess? Or how this state became the poster-child of how not to run a state? Last week’s budget debates provide a telling look into how Illinois got here. During a floor debate, state Rep. Ron Sandack questioned the state’s ability to pay for one of...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget
Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget
The Illinois Constitution is clear: the Illinois General Assembly’s spending in any fiscal year “shall not exceed the funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.” The General Assembly has officially estimated how much money the state will have available in fiscal year 2015: about $34 billion. Yet the spending proposed...
Chart of the week: Your share of $37 billion
Chart of the week: Your share of $37 billion
Last week, Springfield lawmakers took the first step in taking an additional week’s worth of your wages. Over the course of 11 hours, Illinois lawmakers introduced 73 bills and spent almost $7,700 for every full-time worker in the state. This level of spending assumes that the promised 2011 income tax hike won’t begin to sunset...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
House budget full of pork
House budget full of pork
State politicians are in Springfield right now voting on budget bills that call for spending $3 billion more than the state will take in from income tax revenues. These budget bills are fraught with wasteful spending. Here are some examples: House Bill 6149 would appropriate a total of $1.8 billion from the General Revenue Fund...
By illinoispolicy
Quinn should take note: Only 1% of Chicagoans support property-tax hike
Quinn should take note: Only 1% of Chicagoans support property-tax hike
Gov. Pat Quinn’s approval rating is low, typically hovering just shy of 30 percent. But one thing voters disapprove of even more is hiking property taxes to pay for Chicago pensions. A recent Chicago Sun-Times poll shows that only 1 percent of Chicago voters would support a property tax increase to help prop up the...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Are you ready to pay $5,000 in higher taxes?
Are you ready to pay $5,000 in higher taxes?
The average Illinois family will be forced to pay thousands of dollars in higher taxes if Gov. Pat Quinn has his way. Illinois state government is predicting it will collect about $34.9 billion in tax dollars next year. So naturally, that’s how much Illinois state government plans to spend next year, right? Wrong. Quinn is...
By Benjamin VanMetre
Chicago’s $63 billion debt burden
Chicago’s $63 billion debt burden
It’s no secret that Chicago is in a pension crisis and deeply in debt. Most of that debt comes from the city’s pensions, but health insurance and long-term debt are also a significant part of Chicago’s fiscal shortfall. In total, Chicago residents are officially on the hook for $63.2 billion in government pensions, health insurance...
By John Klingner
Quinn’s three-step plan to increase taxes
Quinn’s three-step plan to increase taxes
In 2011, the Illinois General Assembly passed a record income tax hike. The higher rates are legally required to partially sunset in 2015. That means all Illinois taxpayers are less than one year away from tax relief. But Quinn is back for more. He wants to increase taxes again on Illinois’ middle-class residents instead of...
By Benjamin VanMetre