Drivers paid nearly $27 billion in tolls from 2024 back to 1973, the year the roads were to become toll-free. Now the largest passenger toll hike in Illinois history is possible.
Chicago-area drivers could end up paying $1 billion more in tolls each year as part of a deal state lawmakers admitted was made to get labor union support.
Chicago-area transit riders deserve safe, reliable service. But the Regional Transportation Authority board might soon ask the wrong people to pay for it.
Chicago-area sales taxes were already No. 2 in the U.S., but new taxing authority handed to the Regional Transportation Authority will raise them to No. 1.
Lawmakers may approve a statewide delivery tax on Doordash and Uber Eats to fund Chicago transit, hitting all Illinoisans who shop online, even those who don’t use CTA, Metra or Pace.
Ridership on Metra, the Chicago Transit Authority and Pace is still down 30% from pre-pandemic levels. The agency overseeing all three needs to look at spending before demanding $1.5 billion from taxpayers.
Adding sales taxes to services is limited in the U.S., with 46 states not generally taxing services. Illinois may break from the pack and start adding sales taxes to haircuts, lawn care, car repair and a long list of other service expected to cost $2.7 billion.
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...