JOBS AND GROWTH Illinois has the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation More than 1 million Illinoisans are unemployed or underemployed Illinois is projected to be dead last in jobs growth in 2014 78,713 Illinoisans have given up and left the workforce since Dec. 2012 Illinois paid out $266M in improper unemployment insurance payments Illinois...
With Illinois taxpayers just one year away from the income-tax rate sunset, the push from tax hungry politicians to raise rates again is growing. State politicians are using scare tactics to dupe Illinoisans into paying higher taxes. Their goal is to make the temporary 2011 income tax hike permanent, or worse: increase taxes again with...
Top 10 facts about the proposed progressive tax hike The beginning of 2014 marked an important milestone for Illinois taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. The good news is Illinois’ income tax rate is slated to drop to...
The Tax Foundation released an analysis of the proposal to dump Illinois’ fair, flat tax in favor of a progressive tax. The conclusion: a progressive income tax would deliver a devastating blow to Illinois’ already struggling business climate. Illinois had the 17th most competitive tax climate for businesses just a few years ago. But the state’s rank plummeted 14...
The Tax Foundation—a nonpartisan, D.C.-based think tank—hosted a press conference in Chicago this afternoon on the effects of a proposed tax increase in Illinois. The Tax Foundation’s analysis of the proposed progressive tax legislation found that: Illinois’ “State Business Tax Climate Index” ranking could fall to 44th from its current 31st ranking if the proposed progressive income...
The Tax Foundation released an analysis of the proposal to dump Illinois’ fair, flat tax in favor of a progressive tax that would force people to pay higher taxes as their income increases. The conclusion was unsurprising: a progressive income tax would deliver a devastating blow to Illinois’ already struggling business climate. The Tax Foundation...
In July, Gov. Pat Quinn used his line-item veto power to suspend Illinois legislators’ salaries, pledging to withhold their paychecks until they solved the state’s pension crisis. This predictably provoked a lawsuit by House Speaker Mike Madigan, Senate President John Cullerton and other legislators. A Cook County Circuit Court judge then ruled in September that...
This weekend marks the three-year anniversary of the 2011 state income tax increase. But the anniversary also marks another milestone for taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. Politicians like to say that 5 percent of your household income...
Illinois is often used as the poster child for how not to run a state. Money-hungry politicians perpetuate the state’s spending problem with higher taxes and more borrowing. Meanwhile, the state’s tax base continues to erode as tapped-out families and businesses move to states with more opportunities and friendlier business environments. Illinois’ debt has grown...
Illinois has a dirty little secret buried in its tax history – the first income tax approved in Illinois was a progressive tax. Fortunately, the progressive tax was ruled unconstitutional and was never implemented. But now the threat of a progressive tax hike is back again. Originally, Illinois didn’t have an income tax. When the...
Fighting the progressive tax in Illinois The battle to raise taxes again is underway in Illinois. Politicians and special interest groups across the state have put a plan in motion to implement yet another income tax hike in Illinois – one that targets the state’s working- and middle-class residents. Politicians already pushed through a record...
Lawmakers failed to keep their promise to pay down the state’s bills despite the fact that they are still raking in billions in new money from the 2011 tax hike. In fact, Illinois’ unpaid bills are slated to reach $9 billion during the Christmas season this year. When the Illinois General Assembly passed a record...
Michael Jordan may have paid $178,900 in property taxes on his Highland Park home in 2012. But his property taxes aren’t even enough to cover the annual pension of Highland Park’s highest-compensated retired Teachers’ Retirement System member. Linda Hanson, 66, is a former Highland Park Township High School District 113 superintendent who has been retired...
Thanks to Chicago’s high travel taxes, spending one night in the city is more expensive than all other top 50 travel destinations in the nation. For example, it is 81 percent more expensive to stay one night in Chicago than it is to stay one night in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Businesses take such numbers into...