Illinois Policy Action is announcing an initiative to help hold legislators accountable to their word following the three major state income tax defeats during the spring session. We will be asking all House and Senate members to sign our “Keep Your Promise” pledge, which will affirm politicians’ stated opposition to keeping permanent the temporary 5...

Why do some people support taxing higher incomes at higher percentage rates? Some politicians throughout Illinois would like you to believe it’s to generate revenue – but a recent poll suggests something different. According to a new poll conducted in the U.K., members of their center-left Labour Party were overwhelmingly supportive of taxing higher incomes...

This weekend marks the three-year anniversary of the 2011 state income tax increase. But the anniversary also marks another milestone for taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. Politicians like to say that 5 percent of your household income...

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...

Michael Jordan may have paid $178,900 in property taxes on his Highland Park home in 2012. But his property taxes aren’t even enough to cover the annual pension of Highland Park’s highest-compensated retired Teachers’ Retirement System member. Linda Hanson, 66, is a former Highland Park Township High School District 113 superintendent who has been retired...

Illinois’ property tax rates have skyrocketed since 2010. The average property tax rate as a percent of home value has soared from 1.93 percent in 2010 to 2.28 percent in 2012. This represents an 18 percent property tax rate increase in just two years. This rate spike is due to declining home values and local taxing bodies increasing property tax levies....

Michael Jordan paid nearly $200,000 in property taxes in 2012 on his Highland Park home. And now, he’s having trouble getting the property off his hands. Interested buyers had the opportunity to own the six-time NBA champion’s 56,000 square foot Highland Park home at auction on Monday – if they had $250,000 to throw down...