by Kate Piercy The Mercatus Institute’s Veronique de Rugy used “data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis to compare recent changes in government expenditures to those in private domestic investment.” What did she find? Government consumption and investment have generally grown more quickly than private expenditures and investment during the last decade. In the last...
$4.712 billion in unpaid bills
$4.712 billion in unpaid bills
by Kristina Rasmussen $4.712 billion. That the size of Illinois’s unpaid bill backlog at the end of June, according to a new report from the comptroller’s office. It’s up from “just” $2.785 billion at the end of last year. Payment delays are also up: “the delay in paying vouchers was 153 working days this June compared to...
Quinn’s Inflated Savings
Quinn’s Inflated Savings
by Kristina Rasmussen Governor Quinn claims to make $1.4 billion in spending reductions for fiscal year 2011 compared to fiscal year 2010. Why is Governor Quinn comparing his proposed spending reductions to last year’s spending levels instead of his proposed budget for fiscal year 2011? It makes his cuts look bigger. Think about it. Last year’s spending was artificially...
Quinn’s Budget Cuts Are Tip of the Iceberg
Quinn’s Budget Cuts Are Tip of the Iceberg
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Yesterday, Quinn unveiled and signed the Illinois state budget for fiscal year 2011 in which he claims to cut $1.4 billion when compared to the FY2010 budget. He outlined only $509 million in specific appropriation cuts, with the remaining $891 million categorized under vague “emergency budget act reserves.” But let’s focus on this year’s...
Billions in the Hole? Time for Pay Raises!
Billions in the Hole? Time for Pay Raises!
by Kristina Rasmussen Even though the state budget is billions of dollars out of whack, many state government employees are set to receive a pay raise today. From the Pantagraph: SPRINGFIELD — Despite a state budget that is billions of dollars out of whack, more than 46,000 state workers will see bigger paychecks on Thursday. Judges, prison...
Good News, Sales Tax Drop in Cook County!
Good News, Sales Tax Drop in Cook County!
by Brian Costin In a bit of good news the arrival of July 1st, 2010 marked a drop in the Cook County sales tax rate. The Cook County portion of the sales tax (1.75%) dropped ½ a percentage point to 1.25%. This means for a $100 purchase of goods the average consumer will save 50 cents. Unfortunately, Chicago...
Budget Cheat Sheet: Reading Between the Lines of Governor Quinn’s Budget Address
Budget Cheat Sheet: Reading Between the Lines of Governor Quinn’s Budget Address
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s new budget “fix” indicates he’s living in a fiscal fairy tale. His spending adjustment recommendations do not come remotely close to balancing the budget, and he has failed to offer clean break from the state’s perpetual fiscal mismanagement. Governor Quinn claims to make $1.4 billion in spending reductions for fiscal year...
Chicago’s City Budget Up 11.6% since 2000
Chicago’s City Budget Up 11.6% since 2000
y Amanda Griffin-Johnson Since 2000, Chicago’s city budget has increased by 11.6%, when adjusted for inflation. So what are reasons for the budget growth? According to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, Chicago’s population only increased by 1% between 2000 and 2008. Reasons for budget increases mentioned in the city press release for the 2010 budget...
As Cost of Borrowing Goes Up, the State Ups the Borrowing
As Cost of Borrowing Goes Up, the State Ups the Borrowing
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson In the Examiner last week, I outlined how Illinois’s credit rating fell as it continually failed to address the state’s dire fiscal condition. The state’s credit swap costs surpassed California’s, and now the costs have reached record highs. Bloomberg reports that the “cost of an Illinois credit-default swap has more than doubled since April 5 to a...
Downgraded
Downgraded
by Kristina Rasmussen You read last week about Illinois’s dubious race to the bottom with California, Iraq, and Iceland for the status of “riskiest borrower.” Have we always been such a fiscal basket case? No. Senate Republican staff took a closer look at our state’s history of rating downgrades. It turns out that Illinois has only been downgraded...
2,134 Page Bill Full of Appropriations
2,134 Page Bill Full of Appropriations
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson At end of May, the Illinois General Assembly adjourned without addressing how to pay for the $6 billion in unpaid bills and required $3.7 billion pension payment for next year. But both houses did have time to pass House Bill 0859. The bill’s synopsis as introduced states that the bill: “Appropriates $1,000,000 from the General...
$10K per Taxpayer
$10K per Taxpayer
That is about how much it would cost to close the US budget deficit for 2010. Using data from the Tax Foundation, Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center has created a chart which shows the average increase in tax burden per taxpayer required to balance the annual federal budget. The cost to close the...
Keeping up with the Borrowing Fad
Keeping up with the Borrowing Fad
by Ashley Muchow Eastern Illinois University will borrow up to $7 million to cover university expenses up to August as it eagerly anticipates $19 million in overdue state appropriations. Early this month Governor Quinn signed into law an amendment to Senate Bill 0642 allowing Illinois’s nine public universities to take out loans to cover three quarters of what the...
Slashing Budgets Across the Pond
Slashing Budgets Across the Pond
by Heather Wilhelm “Britain announced a far-reaching deficit-reduction plan Tuesday aimed at saving billions of dollars over the next five years,” reports today’sWashington Post, “becoming the latest European nation to slash spending amid increased worries about rising public-sector debt.” The austerity measures include $145 billion in cuts to public-sector spending (including a two-year freeze on...