by Kristina Rasmussen Governor Pat Quinn recently signed a bill making it easier for local school districts to reap a windfall from higher local sales taxes. According to Chris Wetterich over at the State Journal-Register, Quinn’s action“eliminates the ability of county boards to block or reduce school construction sales tax levies.” That’s a shame, because as I experienced...
by Emily Dietrich In April, Americans celebrated Tax Freedom Day – the day of the year on which workers’ have earned enough money to pay all their annual taxes at the federal, state and local level. Liberating, right? Not so fast. When total government spending and costly regulations are factored into the government’s price tag,...
by Ted Dabrowski Last Thursday, the Illinois Policy Institute warned of Illinois’s ballooning pension liabilities (See US Downgraded: Illinois Next?). In particular, the Institute’s paper highlighted the increasing scrutiny Illinois will receive from credit agencies once they begin to account for state’s overwhelming retirement obligations. Only hours later, Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency, released...
by Aon Hussain For weeks on end the debt ceiling deadline debate captured the public’s attention on a very serious fiscal situation. But what was actually accomplished in terms of solving our nation’s problems? Here’s a look at the projected numbers for fiscal year 2011. US Tax Revenue: $2,228,000,000,000 Federal Budget: $3,708,000,000,000 New Debt: $1,480,000,000,000 National Debt: $14,584,000,000,000...
by Aon Hussain With the world watching, the Republican controlled House and the Democrat controlled Senate and President came to an agreement on the debt ceiling that simultaneously raised the debt ceiling and ensured more than two trillion dollars in spending cuts. While this showdown was combative, another duel between Democrats and Republicans looms in...
by Kolin Karchon On August 1st, the city of Central Falls in Rhode Island filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection citing that “the city’s financial condition has deteriorated to the point where it is insolvent.” The city’s pension plan is expected to run out of assets by October, but city negotiations regarding benefit cuts with current workers...
by Kristina Rasmussen Josh Barro of the Manhattan Institute has a new study out examining the high cost of public employee health care benefits, and he finds that “public-employee health benefits are more expensive than those in the private sector.” In the last quarter of 2010, government employees eared $4.66/hour in health benefits, compared to just $2.08/hour in...
Executive Summary Since the January 2011 tax hike, Illinoisans have seen more of their household budgets go to shoulder the growing cost of government employee compensation packages – packages made up of overly generous pay and perks that many can only dream of. Righting this imbalance is one of the great social justice questions facing...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson On Thursday, Gov. Quinn signed the budget for fiscal year 2012, which begins today. As governor, he has the power to make line item vetoes and reductions to the budget passed by the General Assembly. In his budget announcement, Gov. Quinn claims to have made $376.4 million in budget cuts, but looking deeper...
The Problem As families make their Fourth of July travel plans, motorists in Illinois are feeling the pinch especially hard. National surveys continually find that Chicago tops the list of highest average gas prices in the country. Latest numbers show that as of June 27, the average gasoline price in Chicago is $3.98, compared to...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson A new study by Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Rochester and Joshua Rauh of the Kellogg School of Management calculated the contribution increases that would be necessary to fully fund state and local pension systems across the U.S. over the next 30 years. The study found that in Illinois, annual government contributions would have to increase...
by Mark Cavers Legislators came and went from Springfield yesterday without making significant changes to the budget. We were told that the budget they passed is actually a pretty good one. But, as the Institute’s CEO John Tillman argued on FOX this morning, we are in fact spending more than we did last year. Still, legislators...
Before the Illinois General Assembly began its spring session extension on June 22, the Illinois Policy Institute held a press conference in Springfield to present our latest report, “Budget FAIL: Plan Awaiting Gov. Quinn’s Signature Grows Spending, Debt.” The report shows that the 2012 budget is not a reduction in spending and does little to...
State spending will increase in 2012. That is, unless additional cuts and policy changes are added to the general fund budget currently awaiting Gov. Quinn’s signature. Following the close of the spring session, many news outlets reported that the House and Senate had passed a 2012 general fund budget of $33.2 billion that cut overall...