Illinois’ burdensome tax climate for businesses will continue to hold the state back from creating jobs and growing the economy in 2015. The Tax Foundation issued its 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index, reporting that Illinois dropped two positions in the ranking since last year, to 31st from 29th. Prior to 2011, Illinois steadily ranked...

Everywhere they look, Chicagoans see ads urging them to switch their cellphone service. One major provider urges customers to purchase a four-line family plan with all the texting, talking and data one could possibly use for only $100 per month. But the ad fails to mention that a Chicago family would actually have to pay...

Kankakee County already has one of the highest average property tax rates in the country. In 2012, the Tax Foundation ranked Kankakee County as having the 79th-highest property taxes in the nation out of more than 800 of the largest counties in the U.S. Soon, Kankakee County could have one of the highest sales-tax rates...

State Sen. Don Harmon’s progressive tax hike proposal would be a massive tax increase on Illinois businesses. A recent Tax Foundation report shows that 61 percent of Illinois employers are pass-through entities – meaning their earnings are taxed at the personal income tax rate instead of the corporate income tax rate. Examples of pass-through entities...

Until the mid-1900s, people from across the world stampeded into Illinois in search of opportunity. Workers from rural America came to build Pullman cars, erect skyscrapers and fill factories. Immigrants from Eastern Europe arrived in search of economic freedom. And laborers left the agrarian South to participate in America’s industrialization. Illinois’ population doubled from 1900...

Top 10 facts about the proposed progressive tax hike The beginning of 2014 marked an important milestone for Illinois taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. The good news is Illinois’ income tax rate is slated to drop to...