QUOTE OF THE DAY
WSJ: Brace for Tax Hikes, Illinois
“I will be forthright and specific,” declared Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday in the prelude to his budget address, which was anything but that.
The Democratic governor, who assumed office in January 2009 in the wake of his predecessor Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment, is up for re-election this year. So naturally, his budget speech is really a stump speech. Hence, Mr. Quinn omitted references to the state’s income and corporate tax hikes in January 2011, which will are slated to sunset at the end of the year.
Instead, he noted that “the issue of expiring revenue this year is a real challenge” because “extreme and radical cuts will be imposed on education and critical public services” if “action is not taken to stabilize our revenue code.”
Legislation currently being considered in Illinois would amend the state’s constitution to allow for a progressive individual income tax. Main rate structures being discussed would institute top rates ranging from 8 to 11 percent.
A large share of Illinois employers would be impacted by this tax legislation, since 61 percent of employers in the state are pass-through entities. This includes a large number of small businesses and firms in several of the state’s key industries. This report details how various industries and Illinois’ business tax landscape will be affected by proposed legislation.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County health system inks $1.8 billion contract
The board running Cook County’s public health system on Friday approved a contract worth up to $1.8 billion over five years to manage health care for an estimated 115,000 low-income residents as the county adapts to the federal Affordable Care Act.
IlliniCare Health Plan Inc., a division of St. Louis-based Centene Corp. that already manages health care programs for the state of Illinois, was chosen to operate the CountyCare program. Through CountyCare, people receive either Medicaid or insurance subsidies via the Affordable Care Act, which has come to be known as Obamacare.
The Cook County Health and Hospitals System, which so far has enrolled more than 87,000 people in Medicaid through CountyCare, now either delivers care through its hospitals and clinics or directs patients to other qualified facilities.
Daily Herald: CTA, union at odds over hours engineer in crash worked
A union for Chicago Transit Authority drivers says the operator of the train that crashed at O’Hare International Airport worked 69 hours in the seven days before the accident.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308 President Robert Kelly said Friday that the operator’s call-in status without a consistent work shift caused her to work “strange” hours, which was a factor in the crash.
The CTA disputed the number of hours the operator worked, putting it at 55 hours.
Chicago Tribune: Uber and Lyft, at risk in Chicago
Governments don’t excel at promoting innovation, and that’s fine. All they usually need to do is get out of the way and let it happen. But they can certainly suppress, it and that’s what may be about to happen to ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft in Chicago and the rest of Illinois.
The Chicago taxicab industry wants drivers for these companies regulated just like taxi drivers, and an Illinois House committee has approved a bill that more or less does exactly that. But if that framework were so beneficial, these competitors would not have emerged and found such a large customer base.
The industry and its allies think consumers need the protections of city taxi regulations. But the complaints about Uber and Lyft come much more often from their competitors than their customers.
Washington Times: GHEI: Millennials, the Social Security sucker generation
Their golden years aren’t looking so golden. A mere 6 percent of the so-called millennial generation think they will receive the same level of Social Security benefits as current retirees, according to a study recently released by the Pew Research Center.
It is hard to decide the appropriate reaction to this finding. On one hand, I am relieved that the vast majority of this generation understands that there is little hope Social Security will be around for their retirement — regardless of how much they pay in taxes. On the other hand, I am incredulous that 6 percent of this group still cling to the delusion that the Social Security gravy train will continue on its current path.
This generation, which entered the job market just as the economy dropped into the Great Recession, could well be the unluckiest. The already degraded outlook for millennials is made even worse by laws that shift wealth from younger to older generations, as well as the continued failure from Washington to enact the reforms necessary to keep the largest retirement safety-net programs, such as Social Security, solvent for the long term.
Read more…
We’re told government protects us, but protectors quickly become bullies.
Take the Food and Drug Administration. It seems like the most helpful part of government: It supervises testing to make sure greedy drug companies don’t sell us dangerous stuff.
The FDA’s first big success was stopping thalidomide, a drug that prevented the nausea of morning sickness. It was approved first in Europe, where some mothers who took it proceeded to give birth to children with no arms and legs.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
