Chicago aldermen, some of whom receive financial support from the taxicab industry, are looking to burden Uber and Lyft drivers with expensive chauffer’s licenses.
A recent Gallup poll found residents in states with higher tax burdens are more likely to want to move. Illinoisans are the third-most-likely to say they would prefer to move permanently to another state.
In January several instances of corruption, influence peddling and mismanagement across Illinois were brought to light, from the College of DuPage’s expense-account mismanagement, to Chicago’s red-light-camera bribery case.
Mere months after passing the largest tax hike in modern Chicago history, Mayor Rahm Emanuel vows to hit residents with even higher property-tax bills, this time to bail out pension mismanagement by Chicago Public Schools officials – behavior tacitly endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union.
At its next meeting in February, City Council will likely approve legislation to expand the scope of the inspector general’s role to overseeing aldermen.
From taxpayer- and donor-funded spending sprees by the president of an Illinois public college, to Chicago’s red-light-camera ticketing and kick-back schemes, 2015 has been rife with instances of public corruption and lack of government transparency.
November saw Chicago’s City Council let the term of the legislative inspector general, who is tasked with overseeing City Council, expire without hiring a replacement, as well as several other instances of breach of public trust and influence peddling around the state.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit, also known as the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, will give Illinois students access to donor money if the state opts into the program.