By Brian Costin
12/23/2013
Nice list Many local taxing bodies in Illinois took a giant leap forward in 2013 when it comes to improving online transparency. And many local officials worked with the Illinois Policy Institute to meet our online transparency standards, per the 10-Point Transparency Checklist. Our report “Obstructed views: Illinois’ 102 county online transparency audit” showed that...
TAGS: corruption, transparency
By Hilary Gowins
12/23/2013
Michael Jordan may have paid $178,900 in property taxes on his Highland Park home in 2012. But his property taxes aren’t even enough to cover the annual pension of Highland Park’s highest-compensated retired Teachers’ Retirement System member. Linda Hanson, 66, is a former Highland Park Township High School District 113 superintendent who has been retired...
TAGS: Michael Jordan, pensions, property taxes, taxes
The Illinois Policy Institute introduced the only comprehensive pension reform plan during the 2013 legislative session. The Institute’s pension solution is the first plan that shifts Illinois workers out of the state’s broke defined benefit system and into a 401(k)-style plan, giving workers control and the pension system solvency. The introduction of this legislation has...
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
By Benjamin VanMetre
12/12/2013
The pensions that government workers receive in Illinois are often based upon more years of service than these employees actually worked. That’s because, among many other perks, government workers can apply unused sick days to their pensionable service credit. In the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, Illinois’ largest state pension fund, a 55 year-old teacher...
While the media and politicians across Illinois celebrate the state’s “landmark,” “monumental” and “courageous” pension fix, for most Illinoisans nothing has changed. Taxpayers will continue to hear calls for higher taxes to keep the state’s pension systems afloat. Government workers and retirees are still trapped in a pension system that gives them no voice, no...
By John Tillman
12/04/2013
The Illinois General Assembly sent a pension bill to Gov. Pat Quinn. It is important to be clear about what this bill is and is not. Let’s start with what this bill is not. This bill is not the sweeping reform that Illinois has been waiting – fighting – for over the past few years....
TAGS: 401(k), defined benefit plans, pension guarantee, pensions
By Paul Kersey
12/03/2013
House Speaker Mike Madigan’s latest pension proposal is a giant step backward. The overall effect of this plan would be to leave Illinois pensions worse off than they are today – and that’s saying something, considering the state has $100 billion in official pension debt. If this plan passes, both taxpayers and government employees will...
TAGS: pensions
One of the biggest flaws in the pension “reform” proposals that have come out of Springfield has been “pension-funding guarantees” – provisions that would contractually obligate the state to fund public pension systems. The problem with any pension funding guarantee is that it commits taxpayers to spending that could lead to higher taxes, render the...
TAGS: Mike Madigan, pensions
Working at free market think tank in Illinois, it’s easy to get discouraged by bad policies. Despite the many problems Illinois faces, there is much to be thankful for. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are some of the things we are most thankful for this year: Illinois’ flat income tax. Illinois’ current flat tax...
TAGS: fair tax, flat tax, income tax, Jeanne Ives, Joe Sosnowski, Kyle McCarter, Matt Murphy, Patti Bellock, Ron Sandack, Tom Morrison
