Illinois

Cook County Coalition for Tax Relief Founded, Hosting Tax Forum

06/30/2010
by Brian Costin Liberty Leader John Yackley has paid a large role in forming a new taxpayer watchdog organization called Cook County Coalition for Tax Relief. The Coalition is for Cook County business and residents alike, but emphasizes the effects of the Cook County property tax code and the unequal burden it places on businesses. The purpose...

As Cost of Borrowing Goes Up, the State Ups the Borrowing

06/30/2010
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson In the Examiner last week, I outlined how Illinois’s credit rating fell as it continually failed to address the state’s dire fiscal condition. The state’s credit swap costs surpassed California’s, and now the costs have reached record highs. Bloomberg reports that the “cost of an Illinois credit-default swap has more than doubled since April 5 to a...

Minimum Wage: Hurting More than Helping

By Kate Campaigne Piercy
06/30/2010
The Problem Illinois’s minimum wage, already high at $8.00 an hour, is set to increase by another 25 cents on July 1, 2010. This ill-timed hike in the minimum wage will hurt low-skilled workers and the small business owners who want to employ them. With each of Illinois’s neighboring states having a lower minimum wage,...

Spotlight on Spending #5: Employer Training Investment Program

By Chris Andriesen
06/30/2010
The Problem Every day, businesses from across Illinois compete in the marketplace. They work to make their products better, their costs more competitive, and they invest in employee training to boost productivity. Some companies, however, receive help from the state to foot their training costs. How? Through the Employer Training and Investment Program (ETIP). According...

Public Admin Interns Paid $17K Salary

06/29/2010
According to our transparency website, IllinoisOpenGov.org, the State of Illinois paid 41 public administration interns $736,463.01 in fiscal year 2008 in combined total wages, with the highest paid intern being paid $52,914. The average public administration intern was given an annual salary of $17,962.51. According to the Illinois Central Management Services website, public administration interns “function in an...

School Lotteries in Film and in Real Life

06/29/2010
Charter school lotteries are appearing in more movies lately. The scenes are  made for the medium, parents hoping that blind luck will give them a chance at a better school. Movies such as The Lottery, Waiting for Superman, and The Cartel will be spreading to screens across Illinois.  So, coincidentally, are charter school lotteries themselves....

Downgraded

06/28/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen You read last week about Illinois’s dubious race to the bottom with California, Iraq, and Iceland for the status of “riskiest borrower.” Have we always been such a fiscal basket case? No. Senate Republican staff took a closer look at our state’s history of rating downgrades. It turns out that Illinois has only been downgraded...

Medicaid Transparency Bill Becomes Law!

06/28/2010
by Kristina Rasmussen The Medicaid transparency bill championed by Rep. Patti Bellock and the Illinois Policy Institute was signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn! The bill authorizes the Director of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to create an online transparency portal like South Carolina’s website — let’s ask the Director to build onsunshine.illinois.gov and create one without delay. Director Julie...

2,134 Page Bill Full of Appropriations

06/28/2010
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson At end of May, the Illinois General Assembly adjourned without addressing how to pay for the $6 billion in unpaid bills and required $3.7 billion pension payment for next year. But both houses did have time to pass House Bill 0859. The bill’s synopsis as introduced states that the bill: “Appropriates $1,000,000 from the General...

$10K per Taxpayer

By Chris Andriesen
06/25/2010
That is about how much it would cost to close the US budget deficit for 2010. Using data from the Tax Foundation, Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center has created a chart which shows the average increase in tax burden per taxpayer required to balance the annual federal budget.  The cost to close the...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016