Florida

Illinois job losses: 546 layoffs announced in coming months

By Hilary Gowins

02/11/2014

Illinois continues to shed jobs. The state lost 3,200 nonfarm payroll jobs in December. Now, Illinois is poised to lose an additional 546 jobs from five companies in the next few months, according to the state’s January Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN report. Chicago-based Specialty Foods Group Inc., a meat wholesaler that makes...

TAGS: jobs, unemployment, WARN

Illinoisans flee the state for neighboring Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin

By Michael Lucci

01/24/2014

The story of Illinois’ steady out-migration problem is well known, but just where are Illinoisans moving to? Is the outflow driven entirely by retirees and beach-goers moving to Florida? Not according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which just released its 2012 American Community Survey of state-to-state migration flow data. These data use census surveys to...

TAGS: population

Illinois’ sputtering population growth

01/09/2014

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Illinois had the sixth-lowest population growth in the nation in 2013. The state’s population growth was just 0.11 percent, adding only 14,000 people to its population of nearly 13 million people. Other large states such as Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas grew seven to 13 times faster than...

TAGS: population

Illinoisans one year away from tax relief

By Benjamin VanMetre

01/09/2014

This weekend marks the three-year anniversary of the 2011 state income tax increase. But the anniversary also marks another milestone for taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. Politicians like to say that 5 percent of your household income...

TAGS: graduated income tax, income tax, progressive income tax, taxes

Enacting Right to Work would help halt business exodus from Illinois

By Paul Kersey

01/01/2014

There is a virtual caravan of businesses leaving Illinois. Office Depot, which announced that it would be setting up its headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., rather than Naperville, Ill., is only the latest. A string of smaller companies, mainly manufacturers such as Modern Drop Forge or Food Warning Equipment Company have been relocating – sometimes...

ADM relocates to Chicago – without state tax incentives

By Michael Lucci

12/19/2013

Archer Daniels Midland, an Illinois-based agribusiness giant, announced today that it will move the company’s global headquarters from Decatur, Ill., to Chicago, despite a tax incentive bill worth $30 million to ADM being stalled in the Illinois General Assembly. The decision keeps 60 to 75 executive-level jobs in Illinois, and comes a week after Office...

TAGS: Archer Daniels Midland, Chicago, cronyism, taxes

Cutting property taxes begins with cutting government

By illinoispolicy

11/17/2013

A lot of local governments are looking at increasing their property tax rates this time of year. Although many of the individual government increases appear relatively small, when added up they could represent a significant increase in cost to local property owners. The root of the problem — explored once again in a new study...

Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of local governments

By Brian Costin

11/13/2013

Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in the nation.

TAGS: Illinois Constitution, local government

Illinois Obamacare grant goes to California

By Jackson Adams

10/28/2013

A California group with a history of making political contributions to Illinois politicians and connections to the Obama administration was awarded a federal “navigator” grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, to help Illinoisans enroll in the Obamacare health insurance exchange. The East Los Angeles Community Union, or TELACU, was awarded...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act

Shrinking the Illinois Senate

By Brian Costin

10/08/2013

With 42,336 elected officials as of 1992, Illinois has nearly 12,000 more state and local elected politicians than any other state. Amazingly, with this unprecedented wealth of legislators Illinois hasn’t been able to adequately address some of its most dire problems. Illinois still ranks near the bottom of the nation in numerous key economic indicators,...

TAGS: term limits

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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