Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Do you really want to vote for an even bigger Illinois tax burden?
Illinois Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker has been unwilling to share his proposed progressive income tax rates or details about how much his policy agenda will cost taxpayers. But people who study policy, such as those at the Illinois Policy Institute, can calculate how much the kinds of programs Pritzker is selling will cost, and it’s a hefty tab: As much as $18 billion in new spending, according to the institute.
A bill this large would require nearly doubling Illinois’ personal income tax to almost 10 percent. A typical family could see its state income tax bill rise to more than $7,000 from $3,500, the institute predicts.
Chicago Tribune: Sears, nearing possible bankruptcy, is sued by suburban school district over millions in diverted taxes
In more bad news for Sears, a suburban school district is suing the once-mighty retail giant, saying the schools should get back some of the millions of dollars in diverted tax money because Sears has violated the agreement that brought its headquarters to Hoffman Estates.
Nearly 30 years ago, to lure Sears’ home base from Sears Tower in Chicago and keep it in Illinois, the retailer received nearly $250 million in tax breaks and incentives to move to its sprawling Hoffman Estates headquarters.
Chicago Tribune: Yes, Illinois can eliminate legislative pensions
t’s naive to think Illinois will ever see real pension reform. At least not as long as state politicians continue to get big pensions from the same retirement plans they’re supposed to fix.
It’s a clear conflict of interest.
Chicago Sun-Times: Emanuel vows to confront pension crisis ‘before the end of the year’
Mayor Rahm Emanuel vowed Friday to confront Chicago’s skyrocketing pension payments “before the end of the year,” but he refused to say whether the solution he seeks will include $10 billion in pension borrowing.
“I’ve never been patient. I have a sense of urgency to get work done. And I have a moral commitment—-both to the public and to my successor–to leave the city better off and in a stronger position than the day I walked in,” the mayor said.
Northwest Herald: Ryan Provenzano resigns from Algonquin Township Highway Department, township officials say
Ryan Provenzano, a Republican Party insider who at one time earned more than $33 an hour in two Algonquin Township offices and lost one of those jobs in an abrupt firing, has resigned from the highway department.
Provenzano’s resignation as deputy highway commissioner was effective Friday afternoon, according to Supervisor Charles Lutzow and Trustees Melissa Victor and Dave Chapman.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford mayor to propose balanced 2019 budget
A utility tax that the city adopted in January will allow Mayor Tom McNamara’s administration to propose a balanced 2019 budget on Monday.
McNamara said during his biweekly news briefing on Friday that the city’s seven-year budget projection remains dire. But the utility tax and other changes the city has implemented will allow for a balanced budget without a property tax increase for next year.