While the name of the home stadium for the Chicago White Sox has changed over the years, its status as a tax burden has not.

With pension debt straining city finances, local politicians have insisted on turning to its declining population for more tax revenue.

Lawmakers should voluntarily adopt a spending cap to give taxpayers the certainty they deserve.

One rating agency cited Illinois’ “persistent crisis-like budget environment” as explanation for the state’s near-junk credit. A spending cap constitutional amendment and pension reform could go a long way toward putting the state on a healthier fiscal path.

Record-breaking borrowing to fund Illinois' even more massive pension debt is no real solution to the state's pension problem.

S&P Global Ratings has warned that Illinois’ bond sale to help pay old bills could merely add more debt to Illinois’ burden if the state does not also enact fiscal reforms.

House Bill 3004 would have put banks and bondholders ahead of taxpayers and those who rely on government services. But Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto strips the bill of those bailout provisions.

Of the three major ratings agencies, only Moody’s Investors Service has indicated that Illinois lawmakers’ lack of long-term solutions for reducing that debt is a severe problem.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel expressed little concern over Moody’s Investors Service’s announcement that it might downgrade Chicago’s already-junk-rated bonds over CPS budget problems.