Illinois

Labor reform continues to gain popularity

By Paul Kersey
09/09/2013
Labor law reform has been popular in a lot of neighboring states, with Wisconsin passing an overhaul of its government union law, and Michigan and Indiana adopting right-to-work. The move toward greater union accountability could pick up again if Missouri sets up a referendum on right-to-work, as it might as early as next year. Labor...

Progressive tax facts

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/09/2013
Several special interest groups and lawmakers in Illinois are pushing to increase taxes by swapping out the state’s constitutionally protected flat rate income tax for a progressive income tax. Advocates for higher income taxes try to disguise the tax hike as something it isn’t. Here are the facts on a progressive income tax: Thirty-one of...

TAGS: fair tax, flat tax, graduated income tax, income tax, progressive income tax

Remembering Don Wade

By John Tillman
09/09/2013
Like so many in Chicago, I was saddened to hear that longtime WLS radio host Don Wade died last week. Don and his co-host and wife Roma arrived in Chicago about the same time as I did. They became my radio “friends” and helped me fall in love with the city. Being a guest on...

North Carolina tax reformers just getting started

By Chris Andriesen
09/07/2013
North Carolina is gearing up for another reform effort to enhance the state’s competitiveness. This year, political leaders overhauled North Carolina’s tax environment. Beginning in 2014, the state’s progressive income tax will be replaced with a lower, more competitive flat rate income tax. And the new flat rates are scheduled to decrease even more over the...

More than 130,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program

By Jonathan Ingram
09/07/2013
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers failed to...

Stopping stop-arm cameras before they are abused

By Brian Costin
09/06/2013
On August 27, Gov. Quinn signed into law Senate Bill 923 which allows stop-arm cameras to be installed on school buses statewide. School districts would partner with a municipality or county to install and administer the stop-arm cameras violations. Violations would garner fines of up to $150 for a for a first time violation, and up to...

Copper doors for Illinois lawmakers and lobbyists come with $669,608 price tag

By Justin Hegy
09/06/2013
Extravagant doors designed by world class architects, coated in brilliant copper, no doubt would catch the eyes of many, but in Illinois they’re drawing attention for a whole different reason. Wasting money is nothing new regarding Illinois government, but the lavish new doors appearing on the state Capitol building are garnering some increasingly negative attention....

Illinois’ state and local sales tax rates 11th highest in the nation

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/05/2013
Illinois’ residents and businesses pay some of the nation’s highest taxes. Illinois has the ninth-highest state and local tax burden per capita, the second-highest property tax burden as a percentage of median home value and the fifth-highest gasoline tax. A recent Tax Foundation study shows that Illinoisans also pay the nation’s 11th-highest combined state and local sales tax rates. The report...

Illinois’ unpaid bills will exceed $8 billion this month

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/05/2013
The Illinois General Assembly passed a record income tax increase on individuals and businesses in 2011. And Gov. Quinn promised that it specifically was “designed to pay our bills.” Nearly three years and $18 billion in new tax revenue later, Illinois’ unpaid bills are still growing. Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka estimates that Illinois’ 2013...

Illinois to target SNAP households for Medicaid expansion

By Jonathan Ingram
09/05/2013
This year, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, promised lawmakers that it had no plans to conduct outreach or marketing if the state decided to expand Medicaid eligibility under ObamaCare. Lawmakers explicitly asked whether the state would be conducting any kind of “marketing or other initiatives to recruit new enrollees.” Here’s how...
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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