President Barack Obama has won a second term, giving him what he described earlier this year as “more flexibility” in his policy choices. Will one of those choices be bailing out state pensions? All across the country, states are grappling with pension systems that are massively underfunded. Under new accounting rules, Illinois’ unfunded pension debt stands...

Last night, California Gov. Jerry Brown asked Californians to pay higher income taxes. Fifty-four percent of voters opted for the tax increase. A similar scenario is beginning to play out in Illinois. Under California’s current progressive income tax structure, the second-highest marginal rate of 9.3 percent kicks in at just $48,000. To put that into perspective,...

Last night, four Illinois counties had referendums asking voters if they wanted to  create a new sales tax. All four referendums were defeated. The 2007 Illinois County School Facility Tax Act allows a referendum to go on the ballot once a school board representing 51 percent of a county’s population approves the measure. Recently, the...