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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling for a $750 million property tax increase on Chicago residents over the next five years in his recent pension proposal. And his proposed “reform” plan covers only the city’s municipal and laborers pension funds. That doesn’t include whatever tax increases he’s got planned to fund the pensions of teachers,...
For months Gov. Pat Quinn has campaigned on the need to make permanent the temporary tax hike the Illinois General Assembly passed in 2011. Under state law, the majority of the 2011 tax increase will sunset in January 2015. Quinn wants to reverse that. He claims the state is out of money and there is...
In an effort to strong arm legislators today, Illinois’ Secretary of State Jesse White threatened that armed security at Illinois’ Capitol building would need to be completely removed if the 2011 temporary tax hikes were rolled back. Armed security was hired in the aftermath of a 2004 shooting that occurred at the Capitol. Tragically, one...
Some Illinois lawmakers and special-interest groups are pushing for a so-called fair tax, or progressive income tax in Illinois. Among the leading advocates of the progressive tax is Illinois Education Association, or IEA, which misleadingly claims the progressive tax would “increase taxes on the rich” while “cutting taxes on the middle class.” The reality is...
It’s no wonder that more and more Chicago aldermen are balking at Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s property tax hike proposal. They know property tax hikes won’t play well on the campaign trail later this year. Emanuel is calling for $750 million in property tax hikes over five years to prop up just two of the four...
April 28 marks Illinois’ Tax Freedom Day. This day commemorates the point in 2014 when Illinoisans have worked enough to cover the rising cost of federal, state and local government. From now through the rest of 2014, Illinoisans finally will be able to keep the money they earn. Illinois’ high-tax environment pushed the state’s Tax...
A Better Illinois is claiming that the progressive tax and higher taxes on the wealthy are responsible for the “Minnesota miracle.” But the only marvels here are the impressive contortions they used in concluding that higher taxes is what holds Illinois back from impressive job growth and a budget surplus. The problem with their analysis...
Illinois politicians pushed through a record income tax increase on families and businesses in January 2011. They promised the tax hike would partially sunset in January 2015. But as that date closes in, lawmakers are crying poor and threatening Illinoisans with massive cuts in services. Illinois lawmakers are using doomsday scenarios as scare tactics to...
Expect Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for property tax hikes to be a boon for Chicago’s collar counties and Lake County, Ind. Cook County residents have been fleeing to neighboring counties for decades, and Emanuel’s proposed hikes – to prop up city pensions – will only increase the outflow. According to IRS data, Cook County lost...