One progressive tax proposal filed in the Illinois House of Representatives would hike income taxes on Illinoisans earning as little as $17,300 a year.

An investigation in December 2017 found that a convention for municipalities and public agencies ran taxpayers nearly $120,000 in exhibition and hospitality costs. A proposal making its way through the General Assembly would bar state funds from contributing to these excesses.

A new resolution would put lawmakers on the record for supporting or opposing a tax structure that would likely lead to massive tax hikes on Illinois' middle class.

House Bill 4244 would give McHenry County voters an easier path to having a choice in eliminating their township governments, encouraging consolidation in a county where residents pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.

One community in northern Illinois’ McHenry County is a case study on the glacial pace of consolidation in a state with the most units of local government – and some of the highest property taxes – in the nation.

State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, is working on the framework for a bill that would dramatically improve taxpayers’ ability to eliminate township governments, of which Illinois has about 1,400.

House Bill 4083 is the second bill in the Illinois General Assembly to propose getting rid of Cook County’s unpopular soda tax.