Illinois lawmakers passed a 67% income tax hike in 2011. They said that the tax hike would be temporary, making a promise to taxpayers that it would sunset on Jan. 1st, 2015. But there have been absolutely no reform efforts to date that would reduce spending enough for lawmakers to keep their promise. And with...

Key differences between HB3411 and HB3303 HB3411: Rep. Tom Cross, Rep. Elaine Nekritz bill HB3303: Rep. Tom Morrison bill to be introduced on Thursday (Institute supported) PENSION RAMP HB3411: Keeps pension ramp, so pension contributions increase each and every year. HB3303: Eliminates pension ramp, so pension contributions remain level. RETIREMENT CONTROL HB3411: Keeps politicians in...

Illinois House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang, D-Skokie, wants to hike taxes to avoid meaningful pension reform. Lang’s solution is to keep income taxes up statewide as a “reform” for Illinois’ pension systems, which are underfunded by $209 billion. He introduced legislation Wednesday, Feb. 20, that would make the record 67 percent income tax hike...

We keep looking for leadership – and we keep ending up with politics.

State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, state Rep. Daniel Biss and several of their rank-and-file colleagues recently unveiled a new pension reform proposal. These lawmakers should be commended for stepping forward with a plan, rather than waiting on their political leaders to get around to fixing the problem. Unfortunately, the Nekritz-Biss plan falls short of fixing the...

As the pension crisis threatens to engulf Illinois, legislators continue to fiddle. It’s no secret that Illinois has the worst-funded state pension systems in the nation. That’s an accepted fact by those on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, that fact hasn’t motivated any action from the state’s politicians. Now recent news point to even...

by Kristina Rasmussen As Illinois’s service sector grows (accounting for 32 percent of Illinois’s economy in 1977 and 48 percent in 2009), so has the desire to tax it. In 2009, the Illinois Senate tried to expand the state sales tax to a number of services (chimney sweeps, animal shelters, interior design services, and so on),...