To tax-hungry politicians, the Internet is like California in 1849 — a vast expanse of untapped wealth.

With nearly 300,000 residents, Stockton is the largest city in the United States to declare bankruptcy. It is also one of several California cities to file for bankruptcy due to the recession and skyrocketing government worker pension costs.

AFP-Illinois, the Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity, is gearing up for the April 9 consolidated local elections. The group recently launched a new website designed to inform Illinois residents of local referendums that could cause their taxes to go up and are urging people to fight local tax hikes. In a recent newsletter announcing the initiative for...

Late last year California passed a bill that implemented what some would like to call “sweeping government worker pension reforms.”

Recent calculations have put the total level of states’ unfunded pension debt at more than $2.5 trillion.

In January, Standard and Poor’s upgraded California’s credit rating to A from A-, an action the rating agency said resulted from the state’s “improved fiscal condition.”

State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, recently proposed to implement another income tax hike in Illinois is gaining interest across the state. A progressive income tax increases taxes on individuals more as they make more money.

Illinois’ credit rating received a warning today from Fitch Ratings. What Fitch cited as the “ongoing inability of the state to address its large and growing unfunded pension liability” means a rating downgrade is likely unless reforms are passed within six months. That warning is just another whack for a state that already has been downgraded...

Standard and Poor’s Rating Services just dropped Illinois’ credit rating to A- from A. There is not another state in the union with credit as lousy as ours. We are worse off than California.