United States Census Bureau

Illinois Forward: A 5-year plan for balanced budgets, declining debt and tax relief

By Adam Schuster
02/15/2020
The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...

Pritzker claims statewide economic growth, but these Illinois metro areas are shedding jobs

By Bryce Hill
02/10/2020
Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker touting growth in “every major region,” Illinois shed jobs in three metropolitan areas and lagged the national average in seven more.

TAGS: Bloomington, BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, budget, Carbondale, Champaign, Chicago, constitutional amendment, economic competitiveness, economic growth, economics, economy, employment, fair tax, flat tax, government spending, graduated income tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income growth, JB Pritzker, job creation, jobs, labor, Madison County, metro areas, Metro East, Moline, pensions, Peoria, population, progressive income tax, recession, Rockford, spending, spending cap, Springfield, St. Clair County, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, unemployment, Urbana, working-age

Slowest-growing states have progressive income taxes

By Bryce Hill
02/07/2020
Fewer people want to live in states with progressive income taxes. So after 6 straight years of population loss, why would Illinois want to join them?

TAGS: ballot, ballot referendums, corporate income tax, fair tax, flat tax, graduated income tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income tax, JB Pritzker, outmigration, pensions, population, progressive income tax, recession, spending cap, Springfield, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Census Bureau, West Virginia, working-age

State of the state: Pritzker saw worst first-year jobs numbers since Blagojevich

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill
01/27/2020
Illinois job creation lagged the national median in nearly every sector.

TAGS: 401(k), BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chicago, constitutional amendment, economic competitiveness, economic growth, fair tax, government spending, graduated income tax, housing, housing market, IDES: Illinois Department of Employment Security, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income, income growth, JB Pritzker, job creation, jobs, labor, labor force participation rate, outmigration, pensions, personal income, population, private sector, progressive income tax, public sector, retirement age, spending, spending cap, Springfield, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, U.S. Census Bureau, unemployment

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4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

Causes, costs, how to set the state free

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016