Until Illinois lawmakers get serious about economic growth, don’t expect the state’s jobs trend to get off the depressing path it’s been treading for years.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendments to Senate Bill 1 bring nearly $54 million more to the 10 school districts with the highest Latino student enrollment outside Chicago.
The Illinois Senate’s proposed budget plan would raise the personal income tax rate to at least 4.95 percent with no real reforms to address the state’s skyrocketing debt and unsustainable spending. This proposal comes despite Illinois’ loss of $14 billion in annual income and hundreds of thousands of people in the wake of the 2011 income tax hike.
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.