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...

by Ashley Muchow Pew Center on the States and the Public Policy Institute of Californiareleased a comprehensive study this morning zoning in on the public’s opinion of state fiscal management. The study, Facing Facts: Public Attitudes and Fiscal Realities in Five Stressed States, polled residents from five fiscally distressed states: California, Arizona, Florida, New York, and our very...