By Naomi Lopez Bauman
04/22/2014
Some bad ideas just won’t stay dead. Despite reasonable opposition from both sides of the aisle in Springfield, some political activists are continuing to push the idea of a state-based health insurance exchange. Illinois has a state-federal partnership exchange currently. At a time when the state’s health-care bureaucracy was caught paying Medicaid benefits on behalf of dead...
By Naomi Lopez Bauman
04/21/2014
Illinoisans are all-too familiar with jokes about cemeteries full of voters. But, according to a recent audit, the dead are also receiving Medicaid benefits. National news outlets reported recently that the state made Medicaid payments to health-care providers on behalf of nearly 3,000 deceased Illinoisans under the Medicaid program. The federal-state program, which is supposed...
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has backed off a proposal that would have hobbled or destroyed ridesharing services such as uberX and Lyft in Chicago – for now, at least. And when the taxi lobby turned to the Illinois General Assembly for help, they proposed a ridesharing bill full of provisions that would harm consumers and...
By Benjamin VanMetre
04/15/2014
The 2015 fiscal year marks a long-awaited milestone for Illinoisans: taxpayers are less than one year away from tax relief. The record 2011 income tax increase is slated to partially sunset during the 2015 fiscal year. But politicians are already crying poor as Illinois approaches the tax-hike sunset. The solutions they’ve offered up involve making...
By Matt Paprocki
04/11/2014
This session, a bill was introduced to the Illinois General Assembly that would impose draconian regulations on Uber and Lyft’s ridesharing programs. This legislation was crafted by the cab unions with the intention of drastically increasing regulation so as to maintain monopoly control over the urban transportation market. In addition to stifling the free market,...
TAGS: Lyft, Uber
I don’t usually enjoy sitting through Chicago City Council committee meetings. The ones I’ve attended have typically involved aldermen blustering about how the city needs to ban, restrict or control one thing or another, with no regard for individual rights or economic sense. But last Thursday’s meeting of the council’s Committee on License and Consumer...
By Michael Lucci
03/29/2014
Illinois’ jobless rate remained stuck at 8.7 percent for the month of February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Illinois remains the only state in the Midwest with a higher jobless rate today than when Gov. Pat Quinn took office. When Quinn took office, the jobless rate was 8 percent. The state gained 6,400...
TAGS: jobs, unemployment
By Jane McEnaney
03/29/2014
Just hours after the 2014 gubernatorial primary results were made final, Gov. Pat Quinn and his allies launched a series of class warfare attack ads, which were aimed at playing politics rather than implementing good policy. His administration took no time following suit, unleashing a series of legislative initiatives that, if enacted, would have a...
By Michael Lucci
03/27/2014
You’re a small business owner planning out your budget for the next five years. You expect explosive growth and a lot of hiring. But your financial future is uncertain, so you factor business risks and uncertainties into your plan. At least you can count on your state government for stability and a clear tax structure...
TAGS: fair tax, graduated income tax, income tax, progressive income tax
By illinoispolicy
03/20/2014
Myth #1: “The ‘fair tax’ will only affect the rich.” Don’t be fooled. The ‘fair tax’ is being sold as a tax on the rich. But under the proposal from state Rep Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, the lawmaker who is sponsoring the bill to put a so-called “fair tax,” or progressive tax, amendment on the...
TAGS: fair tax, graduated income tax, income tax, progressive income tax
