Jobs are the ultimate crime stoppers
Jobs are the ultimate crime stoppers
Illinois taxpayers will pay about $5.7 billion over the next five years in costs related to ex-offenders returning to prison.
It’s time Illinois ends civil asset forfeiture
It’s time Illinois ends civil asset forfeiture
Michigan, Minnesota and now Nebraska have reformed civil asset forfeiture – it’s time Illinois followed suit.
Income tax: It’s progressive
Income tax: It’s progressive
4 statements reveal that Cullerton doesn’t understand Illinois’ workers’ compensation system
4 statements reveal that Cullerton doesn’t understand Illinois’ workers’ compensation system
Illinois has the most expensive system in the Midwest for workers' compensation.
Illinois school district consolidation provides path to efficiency, lower tax burdens
Illinois school district consolidation provides path to efficiency, lower tax burdens
Nearly 25 percent of Illinois school districts serve just one school, and over one-third of all school districts have fewer than 600 students.
Progressive-tax proposal would favor corporations over small businesses, give Illinois 2nd-highest small business tax in U.S.
Progressive-tax proposal would favor corporations over small businesses, give Illinois 2nd-highest small business tax in U.S.
Under Lang’s plan, Illinois’ top tax rate for noncorporate businesses would become 11.25 percent — the second-highest rate in the U.S.
Illinois progressive-tax proposal is a middle-class tax hike in disguise
Illinois progressive-tax proposal is a middle-class tax hike in disguise
A progressive tax would give Illinois politicians carte blanche to raise rates, which would end up sticking middle-class taxpayers with rates originally intended for “the rich” – all while chasing still more residents and businesses out of the state.
Illinois House passes occupational-licensing reform bill
Illinois House passes occupational-licensing reform bill
HB 5937 prohibits the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation from barring former offenders from working in these areas unless their crimes directly relate to the occupations for which they seek licenses. A job is crucial to preventing repeat offenses: Nearly half of ex-offenders in Illinois end up back behind bars within three years, but ex-offenders who are employed a year after release can have a recidivism rate as low as 16 percent.
Illinois House votes down statewide property-tax freeze, passes plan that exempts vast majority of communities
Illinois House votes down statewide property-tax freeze, passes plan that exempts vast majority of communities
The Illinois House of Representatives voted against a proposal to freeze property taxes, denying much-needed relief to Illinoisans, who bear the third-highest property-tax burden in the nation.
Tax on small business
Tax on small business
Progressive tax: Trojan horse
Progressive tax: Trojan horse
Madigan’s ‘millionaire tax’ fails in House
Madigan’s ‘millionaire tax’ fails in House
The House speaker’s proposal to hike taxes on small businesses failed to garner the 71 necessary “yes” votes needed to pass out of the House on April 20.
Illinois House passes local-government consolidation bill
Illinois House passes local-government consolidation bill
DuPage County is projected to save millions of dollars through government-consolidation authority it has enjoyed for years. Now, the Illinois House of Representatives has voted in favor of a bill that would expand these capabilities to all counties statewide.
Rahm plans to borrow $1.2 billion to construct Lucas museum
Rahm plans to borrow $1.2 billion to construct Lucas museum
The mayor’s plan to construct the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art includes more of the same bad policies that got Chicago into its fiscal crisis: a bid to borrow $1.2 billion and hike taxes on residents.