Iowa

Illinois House Speaker Madigan now the longest-serving state House speaker in U.S. history

By Austin Berg

08/10/2017

Madigan has now controlled his chamber as speaker for more than 11,900 days.

TAGS: Mike Madigan, term limits

Tax increases will cost back-to-school shoppers in Illinois

By Marianna Schmiesing

07/31/2017

Illinois parents will pay the Midwest’s highest sales taxes on back-to-school shopping.

TAGS: sales tax, taxes

Rauner signs bill prohibiting cost-of-living adjustments for lawmakers

By Amy Korte

07/27/2017

HB 643 will prevent the $50,000 daily cost of special sessions from rising even higher in fiscal year 2018.

TAGS: Bruce Rauner, Senate Bill 1, special session

Illinois cigarette tax money goes up in smoke

By John Kristof

07/26/2017

Illinois’ high cigarette tax is a flighty source of revenue with unintended consequences.

TAGS: cigarette tax, taxes

Metro area unemployment: Which states are in reverse? Spotlight Illinois

07/13/2017

The U.S. unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, but unemployment varies widely among the nation’s 388 metro areas.

TAGS: jobs, unemployment

Illinois’ $21 billion in school debt pushes up property taxes

By Ted Dabrowski, Evelyn Hussey

07/11/2017

Illinois’ debt per student is the 11th highest of any state in the nation. It is almost 15 percent higher than the national average of $8,764.

Alcohol taxes make Illinois’ Independence Day celebrations costlier

By John Kristof

07/03/2017

Taxes on alcoholic beverages in Illinois are among the highest in the Midwest.

TAGS: alcohol tax

It’s time Illinois legalized fireworks

By Austin Berg

06/29/2017

The Land of Lincoln is one of only six states to impose harsh restrictions on the sale and possession of fireworks.

TAGS: fireworks ban

Illinois’ so-called ‘property tax freeze’ legislation exempts Chicago Public Schools and city of Chicago

By Brendan Bakala

06/28/2017

Senate Bill 484 would offer a freeze in name only, as it fails to address the very costs that drive up Illinois homeowners’ property tax bills.

TAGS: Chicago, CPS: Chicago Public Schools, John Cullerton, property taxes

Democrats’ fake property tax freeze won’t save Illinois’ underwater housing market

By Michael Lucci

06/28/2017

A four-year freeze riddled with exceptions won’t help Illinois homeowners. Illinoisans need a long-term freeze on local property tax levies and a cap on the tax burden for individual homeowners.

TAGS: housing, property taxes

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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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