As lawmakers consider massive tax hikes on Illinoisans, they should look to consolidate nearly 7,000 units of local government and to cut their high administrative costs.
Instead of giving Illinois residents the power to initiate referendums on local government consolidation, Senate Bill 3 vests this power in government officials, who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Delivered on Jan. 25, 2017.
Instead of proposing more tax hikes, the Illinois Senate should provide some much needed relief to residents and pass a taxpayer bill of rights.
The status quo isn’t working for Illinois; the state needs serious reforms to get its spending under control, pay down its debt, and rein in the taxes that are driving its people across state lines.
In addition to raising the state’s personal and corporate income taxes back near their all-time highs, senators are proposing taxing businesses on the “privilege” of doing business in Illinois, as well as taxing several services.
Play BINGO! with us during Gov. Rauner's State of the State address at noon on Jan. 25! Win free stuff!
Illinois should roll back the state’s Obamacare Medicaid expansion and institute work requirements to save Medicaid for truly needy Illinoisans.
Chicago State University spent more than $200,000 lobbying Springfield politicians, while deteriorating finances caused it to lay off hundreds of employees, including professors.
The Illinois Senate budget proposal merely puts off the state’s day of reckoning through more of the same: tax hikes, borrowing and spending, without the necessary reforms to put the state on a path to fiscal and economic health.
The Illinois Supreme Court shut down a tax Chicago was imposing on car rentals outside city limits, noting the potentially chaotic nature of the policy.
As pressure mounts on state senators and representatives to vote in favor of multibillion-dollar tax hikes, lawmakers should remember the promises they’ve made to taxpayers.
Local officials’ failure to address skyrocketing property taxes has pushed residents out of McHenry County at astonishing rates.
The new statewide sugary drink tax, on top of Cook County’s similar tax and Chicago’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax, would make soda prices in the city skyrocket.