Chicago aldermen for the first time pushed through their own budget, rejecting the mayor’s effort to impose a job-killing head tax. There are other taxes.
Peoria Heights’ mayor vetoed a grocery tax, saying the village would not balance its budget on the backs of families at the grocery checkout. Now Chicago is considering taking $73.5 million through the tax.
Illinoisans paid the highest state and local taxes for wireless cell phone services in the nation in 2024 – $136 per family more than the average. An increase in Illinois’ telecommunication tax July 1 just made them even higher.
State data shows 31,937 members of Illinois’ five pension systems collected $100,000 a year or more in retirement benefits during 2024. Some got over $500,000. See the full list below.
Illinois is adding a 25-cent fee to all bets and 50-cent fee to high-volume sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel starting July 1. Illinoisans lost $1.12 billion in 2024, with $700 million of that on parlays. The new fees will add even more to that total.
While 47 states celebrate freedom with fireworks blazing across the sky, Illinois clings to a 1942 ban that limits autonomy and ignores safety data. Illinois residents cross state lines to partake in fireworks fun, while the state loses revenue and credibility.
Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...