The corporate tax reforms under President Donald Trump’s proposed tax plan could strengthen Illinois’ position as a home for businesses, but the state’s uncompetitive income, property and death tax policies would put its residents at an even greater disadvantage with respect to other states if the president’s plan passes.
House Bill 607 would allow for the consolidation of a duplicative layer of government, something Illinois taxpayers desperately need.
With an average property tax bill of more than $2,000 a year, Decatur continues to hike taxes on a shrinking population.
“Our property taxes are 12 percent of our income. And this is an unincorporated area. “All our neighbors complain about it. People at work complain about it. You read so much about it. There’s a high level of frustration. Because they see what’s happening to their pocketbooks. They’re feeling the effects of it. “On property...
When it comes to taxes, everyone works for the government. Illinoisans worked 120 days – from Jan. 1 until April 30 – to pay the taxes they owe to federal, state and local governments.
Despite the massive size and scope of the project to widen the Tri-State, the Illinois Tollway board suggests new tolls and taxes won’t be needed – but history shows that promises related to tolls in Illinois haven’t held up in the past.
Credit rating agencies have warned Illinois’ credit could slide into junk territory if the legislative session ends in May without a budget deal to get the state’s finances back on track.
Privatizing some medical services provided to inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections could potentially save the state $8 million a year. But the Illinois Nurses Association has a history of doing all it can to keep taxpayers on the hook for that money – and for union jobs that might not even be necessary.
House Bill 2977 would require both public elementary schools and high schools to include cursive instruction in their curriculums, and the plan doesn’t include how much this unfunded state mandate would cost taxpayers.
State agencies have paid more than $270,000 to Mautino Distributing Company – most of it after Madigan brought Mautino into a leadership role in 2009.
Reforms such as record sealing expansion make it likelier that ex-offenders will be able to find work – and stop cycling in and out of prison. That means they and their families will have a chance to succeed. And the more ex-offenders enter this virtuous cycle – instead of returning to prison – the better off the state and taxpayers will be, too.
With House Speaker Mike Madigan’s longevity comes a patronage army paid with public dollars.