Pickle vs. City Hall: The fight to save Chicago carriages
Pickle vs. City Hall: The fight to save Chicago carriages
Burke’s proposal to end the process of reissuing city carriage licenses starting in 2015 came seemingly out of the blue.
Burnham shuts down public website for ‘maintenance’ in wake of corruption scandal
Burnham shuts down public website for ‘maintenance’ in wake of corruption scandal
In the wake of a corruption scandal, the village of Burnham has taken down all public information from its website and placed the site in “Maintenance Mode.” The scandal came about after the village’s former clerk pleaded guilty to stealing more than $700,000 from local taxpayers, and an online transparency inquiry by the Illinois Policy...
Madigan’s millionaire tax returns
Madigan’s millionaire tax returns
House Speaker Mike Madigan couldn’t get a progressive tax hike on the November ballot. His next effort, to get an extension of the tax hike, has failed so far. Now, he is back with yet another money-grab scheme. Madigan has proposed an advisory referendum on the fall ballot proposing a millionaire surcharge. (An advisory referendum...
Chart of the Week: Is ObamaCare “settled?”
Chart of the Week: Is ObamaCare “settled?”
In an April 17 press conference on the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare, President Barack Obama called the debate over his signature legislative achievement “settled” and “over.” But according to a recent Politico poll, almost half of those surveyed indicated that they want the law repealed, and more than one-third want the law...
Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes
Illinois politicians’ obsession with tax hikes
Fifty percent of all Illinoisans would leave the state if they could. Twenty-five percent think it’s the worst state to live in. Another 72 percent don’t trust their government. These numbers came from three recent Gallup polls. In all three surveys, no state polled worse than Illinois. You’d think with results like that, the last...
Illinois: $27 billion in tax increases since 2011
Illinois: $27 billion in tax increases since 2011
A new report by Americans for Tax Reform shows that Democratic governors have enacted more than $58 billion in tax increases since 2011. Republican governors, on the other hand, have collectively signed more than $36 billion in tax cuts. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, one of the nation’s top five most tax-happy governors, has signed 29 tax increases...
Madigan and Illinois’ million-man migration
Madigan and Illinois’ million-man migration
Gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner publicly opposes the tax-hike plan championed by Gov. Pat Quinn and House Speaker Mike Madigan. Rauner claimed that raising income taxes again in 2015 will cause more businesses and people to flee the state. Madigan fired back at Rauner with one of the most poorly-conceived statements of this campaign season. Madigan...
No room in Illinois family budget for another tax hike
No room in Illinois family budget for another tax hike
Illinois politicians are nervous. They don’t yet have the votes to pass another tax hike, and they’ve done nothing to prepare a balanced budget under the actual 2015 income tax rates. Now they’ve resorted to guilting Illinoisans into paying higher taxes. We’re all familiar with these stories by now. Politicians have focused on narratives that...
ObamaCare’s blank-check bailout for health insurers
ObamaCare’s blank-check bailout for health insurers
On Friday, the federal government released more than 400 pages of health-care regulations. Buried deep within these pages are new laws that allow for bailouts of the insurers participating in the ObamaCare exchanges – should they lose money in the program. The Affordable Care Act, or ACA, includes provisions to pay insurers for their financial...
Proposed Illinois budget overspends by $3 billion
Proposed Illinois budget overspends by $3 billion
Have you ever wondered why Illinois’ budget is such a mess? Or how this state became the poster-child of how not to run a state? Last week’s budget debates provide a telling look into how Illinois got here. During a floor debate, state Rep. Ron Sandack questioned the state’s ability to pay for one of...
Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget
Courts can strike down Madigan’s unconstitutional budget
The Illinois Constitution is clear: the Illinois General Assembly’s spending in any fiscal year “shall not exceed the funds estimated by the General Assembly to be available during that year.” The General Assembly has officially estimated how much money the state will have available in fiscal year 2015: about $34 billion. Yet the spending proposed...
Chart of the week: Your share of $37 billion
Chart of the week: Your share of $37 billion
Last week, Springfield lawmakers took the first step in taking an additional week’s worth of your wages. Over the course of 11 hours, Illinois lawmakers introduced 73 bills and spent almost $7,700 for every full-time worker in the state. This level of spending assumes that the promised 2011 income tax hike won’t begin to sunset...
Tennessee’s constitutional amendment on taxation
Tennessee’s constitutional amendment on taxation
Policymakers in Illinois spent this spring debating whether the state should adopt a progressive tax scheme. At one point, there were as many as seven different tax structures being considered in Illinois. Supporters of the progressive tax fought for an amendment to the Illinois Constitution to allow such a change. Their efforts were rejected, and,...
Rideshare drivers rally to defend their jobs
Rideshare drivers rally to defend their jobs
Drivers and supporters of rideshare company Lyft rallied earlier this week on Chicago’s Federal Plaza to urge community members to oppose House Bill 4075, which would restrict ridesharing at the state level. The Illinois Senate approved the bill this week. Thanks in part to the efforts of Illinois Policy Action, the most anti-competitive aspects of...