Chicago Tribune

Taxed on Shipping

09/02/2011
by Kristina Rasmussen The next time you make a major purchase online, keep your eye on the tax bill. Thanks to a little-known aspect of Illinois’s tax code, shipping charges may be subject to sales taxes. That’s right, you could be getting taxed on shipping. Today’s Chicago Tribune highlights how sales taxes must be applied on shipping fees above...

Chicago Finds Savings in Traffic Control Aide Program

08/02/2011
by Mark Cavers The Chicago Tribune reports that the City of Chicago has made progress in reigning in a traffic control aide program that is costing the city millions: “Fewer traffic control aides will be posted at downtown intersections during rush hour after the city laid off about half of Chicago’s full-time brigade to save money.”...

Tiny Taxing District Transparency

06/22/2011
by Mark Cavers On Monday, the Chicago Tribune ran a story on the thousands of taxing districts and government bodies that are scattered across Illinois: “Illinois has the most units of government in the nation, and the Tribune acquired and combed through a list of each one — nearly 8,500 by the state comptroller’s count, from well-known...

Government Monopolized Education Is Ineffective

05/25/2011
by Sameer Warraich New leadership is set to take control over Chicago Public Schools, and parents and students are pondering whether these new policy makers will be successful in reforming Chicago’s public school system. With a deficit that exceeds $720 million, CPS is in dire need of reformers who can simultaneously reduce costs while increasing the...

Digital Learning in Illinois

By Chris Andriesen
04/26/2011
by Collin Hitt The Chicago Tribune carried a good story over the weekend about online learning in the Chicago area. Technology-led learning will be playing a larger role in education in the area. Included was a quote from yours truly, regarding the uneven spread of online learning statewide. “There is no real, robust, state-led effort in online...

Teacher Tenure or High Performance?

04/14/2011
by Collin Hitt We’ve reached an important moment for education reform. Teacher tenure – the impregnable job protection held by teachers good and bad – could soon be replaced by a system that protects only high performance. The threat of strikes could be diminished. And school districts could no longer be forced to bargain away...

Cook County, Chicago Suffer Steep Population Drops

03/25/2011
by Brian Costin Cook County and the city of Chicago both share a dubious distinction: Both are in the top 10 most populous counties and cities in the U.S., and both are the only city and county in the top 10 to drop in population, according U.S. Census numbers released Thursday. See the Chicago Tribune story....

A Moral Obligation

03/25/2011
by Mark Cavers An article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday quotes a representative of the Chicago Teachers Union arguing against the CPS decision to explore closing some under enrolled schools in an effort to close a $750 million deficit. The president attacks the decision saying the Chicago Public School system has, “a moral obligation to … stop these...

What Governor Quinn’s Income Tax Hike Means to You

12/31/2010
by Collin Hitt Illinois lawmakers are considering raising the state income tax. Different plans have emerged, but each would damage Illinois’s economic recovery.  The plan that has been discussed the longest is one that would raise Illinois’s individual income tax from three to four percent, a 33 percent increase.  More recent tax plans have emerged that...
Load More

Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

View Report

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016