Budget + Tax

Illinois Universities Paying Professors to Retire Early

Illinois Universities Paying Professors to Retire Early

Last year the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign paid buyouts to 133 senior professors. The buyouts were offered to professors to retire early with a payment equivalent to half a year’s salary.

Special Alert from the National Taxpayers Union on Online Taxation

Special Alert from the National Taxpayers Union on Online Taxation

Senator John Cullerton of Chicago is proposing an unconstitutional $150 million tax on online shopping during the special legislative session in order to pay for the state’s reckless spending habits.

Fact Finder: Why HJRCA 61 Isn’’t Right for Illinois

Fact Finder: Why HJRCA 61 Isn’’t Right for Illinois

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.

Spotlight on Spending #19: Late Payments in Illinois

Spotlight on Spending #19: Late Payments in Illinois

The Problem 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. According to the Illinois Comptroller’s Office, the state had $4.7 billion in payables at the end of the 2010 fiscal year in June and an additional $1.7 billion in additional...

By Chris Andriesen

Government salaries have received significant interest in recent months

Government salaries have received significant interest in recent months

by Kate Piercy The Illinois Policy Institute has highlighted various instances where Illinois government employees are paid above national averages and much of the time land in the highest earners rankings. Our legislators, allexecutive officers, including the governor, and judges, make some of the highest salaries compared to counterparts nationwide. The Wall Street Journal today discussed President Obama’s recent...

By Chris Andriesen

Reinforcing Hauser’s Law

Reinforcing Hauser’s Law

by Ashley Muchow Mercatus Center’s Veronique de Rugy has made it on our list of bloggable material for quite some. She has, yet again, delivered another applicable piece of statistical analysis. In the graph below, de Rugy uses the earliest records available to plot the historical path of tax revenue as a percentage of GDP and the trend of the top...

By Chris Andriesen

Good Ideas from Other States: #1 Reduce Spending

Good Ideas from Other States: #1 Reduce Spending

by Wesley Fox Over the last two years, many states have faced large budget shortfalls due to declines in revenue and continued spending at unaffordable rates. Some have dramatically cutback spending to balance their budgets, while others have raised taxes. The CATO Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card provides an excellent assessment of the responses of U.S. governors...

By Chris Andriesen