The silence continues. Illinois judges and organizations who represent the state’s judiciary are still refusing to comment about their skyrocketing salaries and perks revealed last week with the publication of the Institute’s special report:Judicial Pay and Perks in the Prairie State. Calls and e-mails seeking comment placed this week to individual jurists, the Illinois Judges...

by Ashley Muchow A five-week tax amnesty period for those behind on their taxes this year began the 1st of this month. SB377, signed into law this summer, allows those who have accumulated back taxes between June 30, 2002 and July 1, 2009, to pay without penalty from October 1st to November 8th. Those tax...

by Wesley Fox Governor Quinn recently announced a new $7 million “business investment package” that will keep U.S. Cellular’s headquarters in Illinois.  The package is part of the state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy Tax Credit Program (EDGE).  The program provides tax credits to companies that promise to make capital investments within the state and create 25 new...

by Wesley Fox With the release of the 2010 Capital Bill Piglet Book highlighting wasteful spending by the state, I was curious to see what kind of wasteful spending was taking place at the federal level on behalf of Illinois. This information was gathered from the Citizens Against Government Waste Pork Database and includes their sponsored earmarks for the...

by Brian Costin This is the weekly Liberty Leaders e-mail sent out for the second week of October. To sign up for the weekly (every Tuesday) Liberty Leaders email click here, select Volunteer Opportunities (Liberty Leaders Program). Help Stop TIF Abuse Tax increment financing (TIF) has been around for over thirty years, many people do not understand...

by Wesley Fox Despite Illinois’s record deficit and $6 billion in unpaid bills, Governor Quinn recently announced $50 million in new spending for the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.  The Initiative would focus on job training for adults and small businesses and also provide funds for small businesses in troubled neighborhoods with the goal of addressing violent crime problems by...