Illinois

Progressive income tax: Brought to you by Illinois unions

By Paul Kersey
08/21/2012
A coalition of progressive groups is beginning to coalesce around a proposal to create a progressive income tax in Illinois.  Under their plan state income tax rates will increase as one reaches higher incomes, up to a top rate of 11 percent for incomes over $1 million.  This plan would leave Illinois with one of...

Can you wait four years to get a job in Illinois?

By Lawrence McQuillan
08/21/2012
Illinois’ July unemployment rate hit 8.9 percent, up from 8.7 percent in June, the second consecutive monthly increase. Thirty-nine states have a lower unemployment rate than Illinois. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois’ labor force is roughly 6.5 million people. More than half a million of them are unemployed. This is a...

Feds to cut Medicare payments to nearly every Illinois hospital

By Jonathan Ingram
08/20/2012
In October, the federal government will begin implementing the “readmissions adjustment factor,” one of ObamaCare’s cuts to hospital reimbursement rates. New research from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that the group hit hardest by these new cuts are safety net hospitals. According to federal data, a whopping 88 percent of hospitals in Illinois will be hit with this year’s rate cuts. By...

The cost of pension inaction

By Chris Andriesen
08/20/2012
by Conor Durkin When politicians lose interest in reform, taxpayers “lose interest,” too. Last week Gov. Quinn’s special legislative session failed to pass a bill dealing with Illinois’ pension problems.  Yet even if any measure had passed, Illinois’ massive problems would persist. The proposals debated in Springfield were far too small to make a visible...

Calling government unions’ bluff

By Paul Kersey
08/17/2012
As John Tillman noted yesterday, the last few days have been full of political melodrama as the Illinois General Assembly holds a special session that is unlikely to do more than pass a sliver of a reform — if they can even muster that.  But I’d like to call attention to the role that AFSCME is...

Illinois must shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.

By Benjamin VanMetre
08/16/2012
Illinois’ state pension systems are barreling towards insolvency. Without a complete pension overhaul, Illinois’ five pension systems may reach their breaking point. There is only one way to prevent a collapse. Illinois must shift from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) plans. In a DB plan, an employer pays fixed, regular pension payments over a...

The truth about those union boos

08/16/2012
The spectacle of government union members booing the best friend they ever had off the stage Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair made for entertaining video. Gov. Quinn may not have liked the boos, but he certainly understands his starring role in this fiction of a drama. Here’s the truth: the pension proposals under consideration in Springfield...
Load More

Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

View Report

Report Archive

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