by Mark Cavers In the case of a government “shutdown” the government doesn’t actually shut down. Rather, essential services remain up and running: Military personnel in Iraq don’t suddenly fly home, TSA agents don’t stay in bed, and the IRS doesn’t stop collecting taxes (although, in a particularly cruel bit of irony, they stop sending...
by Mark Cavers Last week Bloomberg News reported that bond markets are reacting poorly to Governor Quinn’s tax and spend approach. Rather than putting the state back on firm ground, we are in a more precarious position then we were four months ago. From the Bloomberg article: “The market seems unimpressed with Quinn’s plans. The extra yield investors...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of school choice in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, a case involving Arizona’s private school scholarship tax credit program. The Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs in the case lack standing to bring the challenge, reversing a decision by Ninth Circuit. From...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Today, the Tax Foundation released their annual report on the Tax Freedom Day for each of the fifty states. The Tax Freedom Day measures the number of days Americans have to work to pay for all their annual taxes at the federal, state and local level. The national Tax Freedom Day for 2011 is...
by Mark Cavers Chuck Sweeney of the Rockford Register Star reports that FatWallet.com, a Rockford company employing 50 workers, has signed a lease to move its headquarters three miles north to Beloit, Wisconsin. The company was prompted to move when the General Assembly passed the Amazon Tax in early January. This isn’t a surprising move, other online retailers...
by Brian Costin With election day rapidly approaching, and early voting already underway, citizens in a number of Cook County communities are in the process deciding on 10 property tax hike referendums. A 2006 reform to state laws intended to give voters an accurate estimate of how a property tax hike referendum would affect them....
by Brian Costin Cook County and the city of Chicago both share a dubious distinction: Both are in the top 10 most populous counties and cities in the U.S., and both are the only city and county in the top 10 to drop in population, according U.S. Census numbers released Thursday. See the Chicago Tribune story....
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Mercatus senior research fellow Veronique de Rugy’s latest publication describes the dire consequences of the federal government’s spending trajectory. She shows the long-term divergence between federal government spending and tax revenue in the chart below. As Veronique de Rugy explains: If we do not change course, servicing this debt will end up as our biggest...
by Mark Cavers An article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday quotes a representative of the Chicago Teachers Union arguing against the CPS decision to explore closing some under enrolled schools in an effort to close a $750 million deficit. The president attacks the decision saying the Chicago Public School system has, “a moral obligation to … stop these...
by Brian Costin Recently, as part of our Local Transparency Project, we conducted an audit in the Downers Grove area of 16 government agencies for proactive online transparency. One of those agencies was Hinsdale Township High School District 86. They scored only 49.4 out of 100 possible points. It’s disappointing that a public body whose job it is...
Following the Senate Republicans’ press conference Thursday, Illinois Statehouse News released an interview with the governor’s budget spokesperson, Kelly Kraft. In her interview, Kelly paints a doomsday picture of what Illinois would be like after cutting $6 billion from the budget. Kelly states the governor has already made dramatic budget cuts, but we know that’s not true....
As the battle over collective bargaining in Wisconsin continues to unfold, check out this timely video from our friends at the Heritage Foundation.
by Collin Hitt The Illinois Policy Institute released Budget Solutions 2012 on Tuesday, March 8. To date, it is the only detailed, balanced, sustainable budget plan that has been published on state government general fund spending. The plan contains several recommendations for education and Medicaid spending, but it also includes one idea that was completely new and...
In February, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn proposed an unbalanced budget that relied on hefty tax increases and $8.75 billion in borrowing – not to mention, increased overall state spending by $1.7 billion. If followed, Gov. Quinn’s budget will prompt Illinois to run recurring, annual deficits of nearly $3 billion by the year 2016. By the...