Peoria

Illinois Senate proposes income tax hike in the face of record out-migration and wealth flight

By Michael Lucci
01/20/2017
The Illinois Senate’s proposed budget plan would raise the personal income tax rate to at least 4.95 percent with no real reforms to address the state’s skyrocketing debt and unsustainable spending. This proposal comes despite Illinois’ loss of $14 billion in annual income and hundreds of thousands of people in the wake of the 2011 income tax hike.

TAGS: budget, Christine Radogno, income tax, John Cullerton, outmigration, taxes

Our regrettable shrinking state

By Austin Berg
12/30/2016
The U.S. Census Bureau released new migration data Dec. 20, and it’s frightening. Illinois has a massive people problem. From July 2015 to July 2016, the state’s population declined by more than 37,000 people. That’s the worst population loss in the nation, and will likely mean the loss of a seat in the U.S. House...

TAGS: outmigration, population, U.S. Census Bureau

A sorry state: Illinois’ economy in 2017

By Orphe Divounguy
11/16/2016
Since the end of the recession, only 5 out of Illinois’ 13 metro areas – Carbondale-Marion, Chicago, Kankakee, Lake County-Kenosha County and Springfield – have recovered all the private-sector jobs lost from the Great Recession.

TAGS: economy, jobs, unemployment

Asset forfeiture in Illinois: What it is, where it happens, and reforms the state needs

By Ben Ruddell, Bryant Jackson-Green
11/16/2016
Most people expect Illinois law enforcement to defend the private property of Illinois residents. As long as you obey the law, your life, liberty and property should be secure from the law – or so common sense would suggest. Yet, every year, Illinois law enforcement agencies take tens of millions of dollars in cash, vehicles,...