by Dan Proft In January of this year, Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton passed the largest tax increase in Illinois history. They proceeded to spend much of 2011 carving out special exceptions to the tax hike for politically powerful Illinois employers. This week, Sears and the CME Group...

by Jacob Huebert In its November veto session, the Illinois General Assembly failed to pass the comprehensive pension reform that Illinois needs to avoid fiscal disaster. But at least it took one step in the right direction: It voted to repeal provisions of state law that allowed a few privileged individuals to receive large public pensions for the years they spent...

by Ted Dabrowski Earlier this year, lawmakers raised income taxes by a record amount. The tax increases included a hike in the state’s corporate tax rate to 7 percent, up from 4.8 percent. When combined with the personal property replacement tax levied on businesses in Illinois, they now face a corporate tax rate of 9.5...

by Kristina Rasmussen From the sounds of it, House leaders are planning another go on the “tax relief” deal and break it up  into two amendments. One for the business measures, and one for the personal measures. My dissatisfaction with Democrats’ previous attempts to offer tax relief to individuals and family is no secret (get my take from...

Introduction Rod Blagojevich’s tenure as governor of Illinois will have a lasting effect on the state’s reputation and fiscal condition. From January 2003 to January 2009, Blagojevich made headlines for his sensational comments, political feuds and backroom deals. After being arrested in December 2008 on charges of political corruption, the Legislature removed him from office...

A tax relief giveaway was approved by a House committee today. The bill lacks relief for the average Illinois family, however.

by Kristina Rasmussen I’m generally a fan of “performance budgeting” systems — they sure beat mindlessly growing last year’s budget without reference to goals or outcomes. When I’ve looked at good governance initiatives at the federal level, my two main criticisms have been that standards all too often 1) get set  low; and 2) encourage more government, not...

by Kristina Rasmussen From the start of discussions over the “tax relief” package being discussed by the Illinois General Assembly, I’ve been concerned about the lack of apparent relief for the middle class. Of the various provisions in the bill (SB397), the one clear measure aimed at providing broad-based relief was supposed to be the personal exemption increase: Illinois...