New York

Rahm should focus on jobs first, hype later

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
11/30/2012
  In his recent op-ed, “How to rebuild America,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel boasts that Chicago’s “investments” in public schools, community colleges and infrastructure improvements have put Chicagoans back to work. Here’s what he said:   “The strength of these investments is proven in the number of people we’re putting back to work: Chicago is first...

Preckwinkle’s proposed $1 per-pack cigarette tax hike doesn’t add up

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/25/2012
Since 2002, cigarette taxes increased 105 times across the country. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle wants to make it 106. To help fill Cook County’s $267.5 million budget shortfall, Preckwinkle has proposed increasing the per-pack tax on cigarettes by $1. The tax hike is only expected to bring in about $25 million in new revenue. Preckwinkle’s new money...

Even before record 67 percent tax hike, Illinois has 11th-highest tax burden nationwide

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
10/23/2012
The Tax Foundation has reaffirmed Illinois’ status as a high-tax state in its newly released 2012 Annual State-Local Tax Burden Ranking. Based on the Census Bureau’s 2010 data, the report found that Illinois’ overall tax burden per resident is the 11th highest in the nation. Some highlights from the report include: At 10.2 percent, Illinois has...

Progressive income tax: Money grab disguised as tax reform

By Lawrence McQuillan
10/10/2012
The problem In an interview with Huffington Post, Gov. Pat Quinn said that Illinois needs a progressive income tax.1 “That’s one of my goals before I stop breathing and I sure hope we can get that done in Illinois. Sooner rather than later,” he told the interviewer. The same forces that helped Quinn land the...

Illinois has highest cost of government in Midwest

By Lawrence McQuillan
07/26/2012
The average Illinoisan works 208 days to pay the cost of government   July 26 is Illinois’ Cost of Government Day, the date of the calendar year on which the average Illinois worker has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of the spending and regulatory burden imposed by government at the federal,...

Playing favorites: Education pension spending favors wealthy, suburban schools

By Collin Hitt
05/02/2012
The problem State education funding is designed to ensure a base amount of money is available to every student in Illinois. To that end, the state strives to send more money to poor districts and less money to districts with a healthy property tax base. But a bird’s eye view of Illinois education spending reveals...

Illinoisans must work longer than others to pay their tax bills

04/17/2012
In 2012, Illinoisans will have to work 114 days to earn enough to pay their combined federal, state and local tax bill – seven days longer than the average of all the states. The Tax Foundation released their annual “Tax Freedom Day” report, which determines how long residents must work to pay off all tax...

Chicago has second highest taxes on meals in restaurants

03/29/2012
Ever notice that going out to eat seems more expensive in Chicago than other cities? One of the reasons is that on top of the very high sales tax in Chicago, there are additional taxes on meals in restaurants: 0.25 percent Chicago restaurant tax and 1.0 percent Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) food and...
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Chicago Forward 2026: A pro-growth plan to end city budget deficits

Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.

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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