by Emily Dietrich In April, Americans celebrated Tax Freedom Day – the day of the year on which workers’ have earned enough money to pay all their annual taxes at the federal, state and local level. Liberating, right? Not so fast. When total government spending and costly regulations are factored into the government’s price tag,...

by Ted Dabrowski Last Thursday, the Illinois Policy Institute warned of Illinois’s ballooning pension liabilities (See US Downgraded: Illinois Next?).  In particular, the Institute’s paper highlighted the increasing scrutiny Illinois will receive from credit agencies once they begin to account for state’s overwhelming retirement obligations. Only hours later, Moody’s Investors Service, the credit rating agency, released...