by Collin Hitt Illinois lawmakers are considering raising the state income tax. Different plans have emerged, but each would damage Illinoiss economic recovery. The plan that has been discussed the longest is one that would raise Illinoiss individual income tax from three to four percent, a 33 percent increase. More recent tax plans have emerged that...
The Labor Department report indicated the U.S. economy added 103,000 jobs in December. The Report also indicated the national unemployment rate dropped slightly. Although this sounds positive, there are a few things one must keep in mind.
by Kate Piercy The Illinois Policy Institute has highlighted various instances where Illinois government employees are paid above national averages and much of the time land in the highest earners rankings. Our legislators, allexecutive officers, including the governor, and judges, make some of the highest salaries compared to counterparts nationwide. The Wall Street Journal today discussed President Obama’s recent...
by Ashley Muchow History has shown us that increasing the top margin personal income tax rate has done little to impact tax revenues. Indeed, over the past 60 years, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP have averaged just under 19.5 percent even when the top marginal tax rate has fluctuated from its 92% peak in...
by Ashley Muchow Steve Malanga’s article in the WSJ today covers a topic that is both timely and closely connected to Illinois’s deteriorating fiscal condition. One measure about to reach the lame-duck Congress floor is a call to extend Build America Bonds (BABs)–bonds used by states and municipalities to accrue nearly $160 billion in new debt...
Today’s Wall Street Journal carried a special report on how Medicare claims data can be used to root out suspected waste, fraud and abuse (like the NYC family-medicine physician who was flagged for pocketing more than $2 million in 2008 from Medicare thanks in part to administering an odd battery of tests). Earlier this year, we testified in favor of creating...
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.