by Kristina Rasmussen “Oregon Raises Taxes, But Budget Situation Worsens.” There’s a lesson here for tax hikers in Illinois. Amber Gunn has the story in the August edition of Budget & Tax News: Oregon voters in January approved significant personal and corporate income tax hikes. The predicted increases in revenue have failed to materialize, however, and now the state...
by Ashley Muchow CNBC recently came out with their 2010 ranking of America’s Top States for Business. This year, the Lone Star State earned its title as America’s foremost state for business. Illinois managed to remain in the bottom half, dropping from #25 last year to #30. CBNC calculates the rankings based on ten categories reflective of the strain or...
by Kristina Rasmussen “How Health Care Reform Affects You.” Chances are you’ve seen an article along these lines pop up in your magazines of choice lately. I certainly have. Chances are the articles gloss over the major problems inherent in ObamaCare — if they’re not a straight out endorsement of the takeover. Stephen Spruiell takes the...
by Joseph O’Malley Do you remember when President Obama pledged that he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year? Or his argument with George Stephanopoulos in which he claimed the individual mandate isn’t a tax? Now the Obama Administration is arguing that the individual mandate is a tax! What is the reason for this sudden flip...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois spent $6,795 on the “printing of pens” in fiscal year 2009 by Global Printing and Graphics. Between fiscal years 2008 and 2009, the State spent $9,294 on products and services from Global Printing and Graphics, including printing letterhead and printing of business cards. As we have blogged about before, the...
by Collin Hitt Economic high times won’t be here soon, and even when they return state governments and school districts will still find themselves in fiscal straight jackets sewn with pension fund promises. Jay Greene thinks that this could lead lawmakers to substitute meaningful school reform for the old recipe of simply spending more money (which hasn’t...
by Will Compernolle The State of Illinois hired 18 dental assistants in fiscal year 2008 for a total of $677,595 in combined total wages. The highest salary was $46,707 while the average salary was $37,644.17. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics website, the mean salary for a dental assistant in Illinois was $33,170. Nine of...
by Will Compernolle Over $11 million from the State of Illinois went to vendors located in Cincinnati, Ohio in fiscal years 2007 and 2008. Included in the $11,737,442 were $8,897,052 to First Transit Inc. for “Prof and Artistic Services,” $34,055 to Crowe Horwath LLP for “Expert Testimony,” and $29,479 to a Cincinnati Office Depot for...
by Kate Piercy Despite Illinois’s dire pension system, which includes police, fire and public-sector employees, boosting public employee salaries shortly before retirement in order to put them on a path to a bigger and better retirement package has turned into common practice among government in Illinois. Illinois has the most underfunded pension system in the nation,...
by Collin Hitt The construction worker strike in the Chicago area has cost Naperville schools at least $500,000, reports the Daily Herald. Construction crews may be back to work at Naperville Central High School, but the weeklong delay due to a labor strike is likely to cost the district at least $500,000… Work came to...
by Brian Costin On Wednesday, the State of Illinois resorted to more borrowing and sold $900 Million in Build America Bonds to support public works projects. Unfortunately, due to Illinois rapidly deteriorating credit rating taxpayers are paying a premium. On face, the bonds will pay investors an average interest rate of 6.96 percent. Bad enough but...
by Collin Hitt That’s the title of a new Forbes piece by Clayton Christiansen and Michael Horn. School is out, and for most students enjoying their midsummer pleasures, class time is a distant memory. Changes are underway that make it likely to stay that way. Christiansen and Horn have written a book on the topic of “disruptive innovation” in...
Illinois is facing a budget crisis. The state’s revenue collections are low, and dropping. Yet we’ve continued to spend more than we’ve taken in from taxes – in 2006, in 2007, in 2008, in 2009, in 2010, and yes, in 2011. Some of the revenue shortfall can be blamed on falling collections due to a...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that the states have spent a total of around $5 million of stimulus funds on signs “touting ‘The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act’ and reminding passers-by that the program is ‘Putting America Back to Work.’” ABC News reports that “the state of Illinois has spent $650,000 on about 950...