Pressure is growing on the longest-serving state House speaker in American history to resign as federal investigators probe his relationships with corporate lobbyists.
Illinois’ 101st General Assembly can be leaders in pension reform by passing a constitutional amendment that allows for changes to future, unearned benefits.
State lawmakers overrode Gov. Rauner’s veto of a bill that allows one former firefighter serving as a Chicago alderman to credit his political salary toward a more lucrative fire pension. The pension boost will also apply to future aldermen with a history of fire department work.
The Democratic nominee in the Cook County assessor’s race is voicing support for a ban on city aldermen doubling as property tax appeals attorneys, an arrangement that encourages conflicts of interest.
House Bill 4237 seeks to get around Congress’ limitation of a federal deduction that benefits high-tax states, but residents would be better served by efforts to directly reduce state and local taxes in Illinois.
A number of state and local lawmakers in Illinois practice property tax appeals litigation. But a pair of bills recently filed in the General Assembly would end their ability to benefit at the expense of taxpayers.
A bill in the Illinois Senate would provide certain alcohol producers some freedom within the state’s three-tier system – which has been maintained through measures limiting competition and benefiting the politically connected.
As pressure mounts on state senators and representatives to vote in favor of multibillion-dollar tax hikes, lawmakers should remember the promises they’ve made to taxpayers.
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.