Illinois’ fastest-growing jobs sector in 2018 was government – another sign the state needs pro-growth reforms to keep up with the rest of the country.
While progressive tax proponents champion their “tax on the rich,” middle-income families in Lake County – home to the state’s highest property taxes – could see a big tax hike under income tax models praised by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
In the end, redistricting reform could come under the dome in Springfield or by clipboards and signatures on street corners. Either way, those efforts are only helped by the governor holding on to his campaign promise.
A federal corruption charge against Chicago Ald. Ed Burke has led peers to hand control of the $100 million-a-year workers’ compensation program to the city finance department. Burke, who had overseen the program for decades, fought program oversight and staffed it with political allies.
Reversing the state’s outmigration of residents and encouraging the job creation Illinoisans need to thrive – and the state needs for stable revenues – require lawmakers to rein in government overspending and resist calls for tax hikes that would further depress Illinois’ economic growth.
Chicago has seized and sold nearly 50,000 impounded vehicles since 2011, hitching drivers to mounting debts, a recent investigation found. The city’s ticketing laws disproportionately harm low-income residents.
Frustration over high taxes and government waste in Illinois need more than an angry social media post or a moving van. Some residents of McHenry County, Illinois, acted, and are winning reforms.
“At 20 years old, you don’t think, ‘We found some pot. This could affect the rest of my life.’ “We were riding dirt bikes out in the woods. And we stopped to take a rest, and went ‘what is that?’ And they were these tall little hemp plants. “They were useless. I had them months...
Chicago had nearly 15,000 municipal employees paid at least six figures in 2017, up more than 1,000 from the previous year. That’s more than 40 percent of the city’s workforce.
There’s a lot of talk about renewed bipartisanship and a new day in Springfield. Dozens of state lawmakers have already opted out of the pension system. The General Assembly should take the lead and phase out their own defined-benefit system and get to work on a constitutional fix for the rest of Illinois’ pension mess.