Illinois

Government pro-growth programs no substitute for friendly business climate across the board

By Danny Colston
08/19/2014
New York lawmakers have acknowledged that low costs are beneficial to businesses, and that lower taxes mean more money, which leads to growth, innovation and hiring. The proof is the state’s START-UP NY program, which provides 10-year exemptions on property, sales and state income taxes to qualified new and expanding businesses. But while START-UP NY...

Contract with top union yields big payouts for state workers

By Justin Hegy
08/19/2014
Introduction It pays to work for state government. Compensation costs for state workers make up roughly one third of Illinois’ state budget. How much state workers are paid is largely decided by contracts with government employee unions, specifically Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Since 2003, two consecutive Illinois governors – now disgraced former...

State worker tardiness costs Illinois taxpayers big money

By Justin Hegy
08/19/2014
State government employees working for Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, racked up 5,002 hours of “tardy time” – instances of unexcused late arrival – in fiscal years 2012 and 2013, but were still paid for the time.1 Estimated cost to taxpayers: $180,346.44. During this same two-year span, DCFS paid out more than $11.8 million2  in...

Illinois dead last in job creation in 2014

By Michael Lucci
08/18/2014
Illinois’ labor force shrank by 17,100 people in July, according to a release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS also reported that the state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent from 7.1 percent. However, the entire decline in the July unemployment rate came as a result of workers quitting the workforce. This grim news...

Repeal death, franchise taxes by ending cronyism

By Michael Lucci
08/18/2014
Illinois government does some strange things. A case in point is how the state treats people and businesses that create jobs. Illinoisans are subject to both a death tax and a franchise tax. The death tax is a special tax on wealthy people just for the privilege of dying in the state of Illinois. This...

TAGS: Chicago, cronyism, death tax, jobs

Teachers can opt out of paying for union politics

By Paul Kersey
08/15/2014
As the start of a new school year approaches, Illinois teachers deserve to know their rights. That includes the right to join or not join a union, and the right to support or not support union politics as the political season in Illinois heats up. Teachers unions are one of the most powerful lobbying groups...

TAGS: Chicago, teacher salaries, unions

Medicaid’s broken ‘doctor fix’

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
08/15/2014
When the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, was signed into law, three out of 10 physicians were not accepting new Medicaid patients. So to entice more physicians to participate in the Medicaid program, the federal government began temporarily paying higher reimbursements for some of primary care physicians’ routine services. But temporarily boosting a narrow subset...

Illinois still 170,000 jobs away from recovery

By Michael Lucci
08/15/2014
Illinois gained 10,300 jobs in July, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. The Quinn camp was quick to tout this number as an indicator of the administration’s success. However, by comparison Illinois only created 10,600 net new jobs in first 66 months of Quinn’s tenure. Perhaps the Quinn administration believes that...

TAGS: Chicago, jobs, unemployment

Taxpayers on the hook for risky investments in state pension systems

08/15/2014
Politicians have made a mess of Illinois’ finances, in large part through their mismanagement of state and local pension systems. With most of the state’s pension funds heading toward insolvency, it’s no surprise that politicians’ actions – from using government-worker retirements as slush funds, to trading retirement benefits in exchange for union support, to taking...

Traditional pensions a bad fit for teachers, millennials in Illinois

08/14/2014
More mobile than any generation before them, millennials need retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, that are just as flexible. But if you’re a millennial looking to become a state-government worker in Illinois, you may want to look elsewhere. Mobility isn’t a priority for state officials. Illinois almost exclusively offers its government workers traditional pension plans....
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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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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