Hawaii

Minnesota just passed civil asset forfeiture reform; here’s why Illinois should be next

By Bryant Jackson-Green
06/27/2014
Most people might think that the police can’t take and keep your property unless they can prove that you used it in illegal activities. Most people would be wrong. Under state and federal civil asset forfeiture laws, which are increasingly garnering national attention, police can take property they suspect has somehow been involved with criminal...

Lawmakers sweeten pitch for the Obama library with taxpayer dollars

By Jane McEnaney
06/16/2014
Today is the submission deadline for proposals to the Barack Obama Foundation, the organization tasked with accepting bids from various contenders vying for Obama’s future presidential library and museum. The competition as it stands is between Hawaii, New York and Illinois; where President Obama was born, where he received his undergraduate degree and where he...

What D.C. lawmakers aren’t asking about ObamaCare

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
06/03/2014
The House Energy and Commerce Committee wants answers. According to a June 3 letter from committee leaders to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, lawmakers are seeking details on how and why several state-run health care exchanges have failed. They want to know why the administration awarded more than $1 billion...

Want a job? Move to a state that doesn’t tax work

By Michael Lucci
04/28/2014
Do high taxes help or hinder a state? The Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children thinks high taxes are a good thing. The group released a study recently claiming that states that levy high personal income taxes outperform states that don’t tax income at all. They use their study as a justification for...

Illinois ranks first in number of local taxing bodies

By Brian Costin
03/02/2014
When it comes to local taxing bodies and local property taxes, Illinois is an extreme outlier in comparison to the rest of the nation. We rank first in number of local taxing bodies, with 6,963, and have the second-highest property tax rate in the nation. But this isn’t news for Illinois residents who have looked...

TAGS: local government, property taxes

The work vs. welfare trade-off in Illinois

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/23/2013
A new study by the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., takes a state-by-state look at the value of the welfare benefits package. While no one in America receives welfare benefits from all 72 federal welfare benefits programs that provide direct cash or in-kind assistance, long-term welfare beneficiaries are more likely to receive benefits from multiple programs. Highlights...

TAGS: welfare

Progressive income tax: Money grab disguised as tax reform

By Lawrence McQuillan
10/10/2012
The problem In an interview with Huffington Post, Gov. Pat Quinn said that Illinois needs a progressive income tax.1 “That’s one of my goals before I stop breathing and I sure hope we can get that done in Illinois. Sooner rather than later,” he told the interviewer. The same forces that helped Quinn land the...

How to Save State Parks

09/06/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen With the state billions of dollars in the hole, Illinois’s network of state parks is facing budget cuts: The Wildlife Prairie Park subsidy is being wiped out as part of a $2.4 million reduction in lump sums at the Department of Natural Resources. DNR will also reduce vacant positions and defer “non-critical” maintenance at...
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4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

Causes, costs, how to set the state free

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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