Illinois has a dirty little secret buried in its tax history – the first income tax approved in Illinois was a progressive tax. Fortunately, the progressive tax was ruled unconstitutional and was never implemented. But now the threat of a progressive tax hike is back again. Originally, Illinois didn’t have an income tax. When the...

Illinois’ corporate income tax rate is already the fourth-highest in the industrialized world. Yet some lawmakers want to push rates even higher. State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Champaign, wants swap out Illinois’ constitutionally protected flat rate income tax on corporations with a progressive income tax hike. And that would be on top of the fact that...

On Nov. 5, Colorado voters defeated a progressive income tax increase by a two-to-one margin — more than 66 percent of the voters said no to higher taxes. Colorado’s Amendment 66 was a ballot initiative to swap out the state’s competitive flat rate income tax for a progressive income tax increase. Specifically, lawmakers wanted to...

As the Illinois General Assembly heads back to Springfield for veto session next week, here is a quick look at what elected officials have signed on to the Illinois Policy Institute’s legislative efforts to prevent lawmakers from amending the state’s constitution to permit a progressive income tax hike, which would increase taxes on 85 percent...

State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, penned a press release attempting to mask her agenda for higher taxes in Illinois and sell her progressive tax plan as something it isn’t. When it comes to her peers and opponents, Jakobsson suggests that arguments about a progressive income tax for Illinois need come with coherent policy arguments combined with facts....

According to Bloomberg, at least nine states are currently pitching tax cuts. In addition to the proposed $500 million tax cut by a Gov. Rick Scott in Florida, the tax cut efforts include: Republican governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio, Paul LePage of Maine, Terry Branstad of Iowa, Sam Brownback of Kansas...

Several special interest groups and lawmakers in Illinois are pushing to increase taxes by swapping out the state’s constitutionally protected flat rate income tax for a progressive income tax. Advocates for higher income taxes try to disguise the tax hike as something it isn’t. Here are the facts on a progressive income tax: Thirty-one of...

When lawmakers passed the record 2011 tax hike they went on record making promises to taxpayers about the purpose and temporary nature of the tax hike. Now it’s clear that those promises were actually lies. When passing the tax hike, Gov. Pat Quinn said: “We have some temporary tax increases that are designed to pay our...

The Illinois Education Association, or IEA, is training its members to advocate for a plan that, ironically, increases taxes on teachers.