Illinois

Union bosses silence ObamaCare critiques to pander to Democrat allies

By Paul Kersey
10/09/2013
Just a couple of weeks ago the AFL-CIO passed a sharp criticism of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, in a written document at its national convention in Los Angeles. This document was the last of a string of union complaints about the national health insurance law and the way that the...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, AFL-CIO, James Hoffa, LIUNA: Laborers' International Union of North America, Teamsters

Illinois’ unfriendly business environment killing jobs, growth

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/09/2013
A new Tax Foundation report reveals one of the reasons why Illinoisans are finding it so hard to get jobs – it’s getting more and more expensive for businesses to operate in Illinois. The Tax Foundation released today its 2014 State Business Tax Climate Index, confirming the state’s worsening position. Illinois has dropped 15 spots to...

TAGS: State Business Tax Climate Index

Lessons from Vallejo: Don’t avoid pension reforms

By Ted Dabrowski
10/08/2013
Illinois legislators and local officials could learn a thing or two from California cities that have buckled under the weight of too much debt. The first is if they don’t implement reforms early enough, bankruptcy for the city of Chicago and other municipalities may be unavoidable. In California, both Stockton and San Bernardino were forced...

Shrinking the Illinois Senate

By Brian Costin
10/08/2013
With 42,336 elected officials as of 1992, Illinois has nearly 12,000 more state and local elected politicians than any other state. Amazingly, with this unprecedented wealth of legislators Illinois hasn’t been able to adequately address some of its most dire problems. Illinois still ranks near the bottom of the nation in numerous key economic indicators,...

TAGS: term limits

U.S. Supreme Court takes on home-care unionization laws

By Paul Kersey
10/05/2013
Illinois is one of several states that have chosen to allow the “unionization” of people who provide care for children or disabled persons and receive assistance from state programs. But one woman has stood up against this forced unionization. Pamela Harris is a mother from Western Springs, Ill., who has been forced to fend off...

ObamaCare: The great Medicaid expansion

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
10/05/2013
Federal officials are trumpeting the high “demand” that ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges are experiencing, but their celebration is misguided. What’s the point of the ObamaCare health insurance exchanges if the end result is to dump the majority of Americans covered under ObamaCare into Medicaid? The truth is that more than three-quarters of the newly insured next year...

High revenue growth in Illinois leaves lawmakers hungry for more

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/05/2013
Progressive lawmakers in Illinois continually argue that the state has a revenue problem. They argue that,  with a little more cash in the coffers, Illinois could solve its countless fiscal woes. This talking point is part of a larger sales pitch used to advocate for higher taxes in Illinois. But it’s not true. In fact,...

Unmasking state Rep. Naomi Jakobsson’s agenda for higher taxes

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/04/2013
State Rep. Naomi Jakobsson, D-Urbana, penned a press release attempting to mask her agenda for higher taxes in Illinois and sell her progressive tax plan as something it isn’t. When it comes to her peers and opponents, Jakobsson suggests that arguments about a progressive income tax for Illinois need come with coherent policy arguments combined with facts....

TAGS: fair tax, graduated income tax, income tax, Naomi Jakobsson, progressive income tax