by Collin Hitt The Illinois Policy Institute released Budget Solutions 2012 on Tuesday, March 8. To date, it is the only detailed, balanced, sustainable budget plan that has been published on state government general fund spending. The plan contains several recommendations for education and Medicaid spending, but it also includes one idea that was completely new and...

In February, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn proposed an unbalanced budget that relied on hefty tax increases and $8.75 billion in borrowing – not to mention, increased overall state spending by $1.7 billion. If followed, Gov. Quinn’s budget will prompt Illinois to run recurring, annual deficits of nearly $3 billion by the year 2016. By the...

by Mark Cavers For months, the Institute and others have been warning that passing the Amazon Tax bill would force even more jobs out of our state. Government policies do not take place in a bubble, they have real life impacts. Yesterday Governor Quinn signed the Amazon Tax into law. This effectively cuts off the revenue streams for numerous Illinois based companies that...

The Sauk Valley Newspapers editorial board encouraged Gov. Quinn to consider ideas from Budget Solutions 2012 in an editorial published March 15.