By Michael Lucci
02/18/2015
The governor’s agenda should be cause for optimism across the state: competitiveness, not cronyism, is the right path forward to spark an Illinois comeback.
TAGS: employment, jobs
By Michael Lucci
01/25/2015
Twenty years of flight have wreaked havoc on state and local budgets, causing an estimated $7.6 billion in tax-revenue losses annually. Any long-term fix to Illinois’ budget crisis must address the state’s out-migration crisis.
TAGS: budget
By Hilary Gowins
01/13/2015
Five things to remember from Governor Bruce Rauner's Inaugural speech
TAGS: Bruce Rauner, budget
By Michael Lucci
01/07/2015
The stunning data underscore an important point as power shifts to Governor-elect Bruce Rauner: Illinois cannot raise taxes on a population that is shrinking due to massive numbers of people leaving.
TAGS: jobs
By Michael Lucci
08/11/2014
Illinoisans enjoyed a larger paycheck than their Iowa counterparts for 30 years – until 2012. For the first time ever, the median household in Iowa surpassed its Illinois counterpart, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. If you lined up all households in order of income, the median household would be the one in the very...
By John Klingner
07/11/2014
Illinois has once again earned the dubious honor of having one of the worst pension crises in the nation. This week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, or CEI, released a report, “Understanding Public Pension Debt,” which combined the state rankings of several different pension debt studies, including reports by Moody’s Investors Service and the U.S. Census...
TAGS: Chicago, debt, pensions
By Michael Lucci
03/31/2014
A net of 1.25 million more people left Illinois than entered from 1985-2010, according to data from the Internal Revenue Service on the migration of Illinois taxpayers and their dependents. In every single recorded year, more people left Illinois than entered. Recent U.S. Census Bureau estimates, which go through 2012, show that the exodus has...
TAGS: outmigration
By Michael Lucci
03/26/2014
House Speaker Mike Madigan has proposed an extra tax on million-dollar incomes. His proposed legislation, HJRCA51, would amend the Illinois Constitution to impose an additional tax of 3 percent on income over $1 million. This tax won’t touch any millionaires who don’t want to pay it. They’ll simply leave, and they are well-equipped to do so. The middle...
TAGS: millionaire tax, progressive income tax
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...
By Michael Lucci
02/10/2014
The common refrain made against Texas by those who defend the status quo in Illinois is that the jobs being created in the Lone Star State are lower-paying and less-rewarding opportunities. But not anymore. Texas is now unquestionably besting Illinois in providing for the middle class. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012 the inflation-adjusted...
