Standard and Poors Rating Services just dropped Illinois credit rating to A- from A. There is not another state in the union with credit as lousy as ours. We are worse off than California.
Excess red tape hurts business. Where superfluous laws and regulations prevail, businesses and individuals lose out. Kansas knows this, and has developed a plan to jump-start business activity in the Sunflower State: the Office of the Repealer. Last month Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback made good on a campaign promise by establishing the office (Appendix I, available...
The Problem Around this time each year, Illinois residents start making plans to attend the DuQuoin and Illinois State Fairs. But these state fairs are costing taxpayers much more than their ticket prices suggest. These two state fairs have a long record of their expenditures far outweighing their revenues. Between fiscal years 2001 and 2009,...
Ten million Americans are covered by Health Savings Account-eligible insurance plans, an increase of 25 percent since last year, a new census released today by America
Do Illinois citizens deserve to know where their tax dollars go? Less than ten years ago, a state audit found that many of our public officials didn’t think so. More than two-thirds of requests for public documents, the study found, were turned away at local offices. More than a quarter of them were denied altogether....
Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...