Despite Illinois’ billions in deficit spending and skyrocketing debt, the Illinois House of Representatives passed House Bill 278, which would transfer an additional $300 million per year of state income tax funds to local governments, continuing to prop up local overspending that fuels high property taxes.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is suspending funding for a technology initiative Gov. Bruce Rauner has said would save taxpayer money and promote efficiency, data security and transparency in state government.
A new report from WalletHub finds Illinois’ combined state and local tax burden is higher than that of every other state and the District of Columbia.
Top school district superintendents have used the sick-leave perk to boost their pensions by $350,000 or more over the course of their retirements.
Between 2014 and 2016, Illinois’ Medicaid expansion cost $4.6 billion more than its supporters had forecasted, crowding out services for Illinois’ most vulnerable residents.
Illinois holds more than $66 million worth of stocks and bonds in PepsiCo, Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper Snapple alone.
The Senate’s “grand bargain” contains a one-year spending “cap” that won’t improve fiscal responsibility. A real cap must come with structural spending reforms to return spending to a level that taxpayers can afford.
Gov. Bruce Rauner has suggested funding CPS with tax increment financing, or TIF, funds; this would temporarily bail out the district, but more needs to be done to address serious concerns about Chicago’s TIF program.
A golden rule of finance is this: Debt that can’t be paid won’t be paid.
More than half of Illinois voters want lawmakers to balance the budget by only cutting state spending.
A new proposal from state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights, would tax internet streaming services in Illinois, much like the potentially illegal internet streaming tax implemented in Chicago.
In the wake of the “grand bargain” budget plan failure, an Illinois politician has proposed applying the 6.25 percent state sales tax to a broad range of services.
Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for such costly promises as they struggle to find opportunities of their own.
The Senate adjourned yesterday without taking any votes on the "grand bargain."