News that Wrigley has started producing Skittles in Illinois has many excited – until they learn just how much Illinois gave in tax incentives to lure 75 new jobs.
The average single-family home in Chicago will see a $400 increase in property taxes. And property-tax revenues for the city of Chicago will top $1 billion for the first time in city history.
City officials are moving to develop the largest remaining plot of vacant land to ensure huge windfalls for a city-run slush fund.
Munger said that if raising taxes were the only answer to the budget crisis, lawmakers would have to increase the income tax from its current 3.75 percent to 8 percent.
Legislation to make union-contract negotiations more transparent has been repeatedly proposed, but lawmakers continue to opt for secrecy at taxpayers’ expense.
“I started my barbershop in 1962. I’ve been cutting some customers’ hair for over 50 years. “When I started there were a lot of German immigrants who were buying small summer homes here. And this is where they retired. Now those same people come into the shop and all they talk about is their property-tax...
Lawmakers missed an opportunity to provide relief for taxpayers struggling in East St. Louis.
If signed, HB 6328 will remove expungement fees in Cook County for those who were arrested but never convicted.
Major ratings agencies have assigned a negative outlook to Illinois. To move forward, the state can’t pass just any budget – especially one that’s $7 billion out-of-whack – to get beyond its crisis. With today’s fiscal stress, a bad budget is worse than no budget. A budget without reforms will only allow Illinois’ debt to continue to spiral, putting investors – and more importantly, Illinois residents – at risk.
Politicians have repeatedly prioritized funding state-worker pay and benefits over social services and other vital programs.
Under former Gov. Jim Edgar’s pension ramp, unfunded pension liabilities have increased nearly $100 billion despite taxpayers contributing $16.4 billion more to the five state-run pension systems than required under the Edgar plan.
Illinois police have taken in a total of $72 million in seized property over the past two years.
Chicago’s four city-run pension funds’ poor returns on investment in 2015 are a good reminder why defined-benefit pensions are a failure for both taxpayers and government workers.