-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
A new government report on tax revenue shows Illinois’ businesses are struggling, potentially exacerbating Illinois’ debt spiral as tax revenues fall well short of already low estimates.
Comment: This is a shallow article lazily done. Our own article on this is linked here.
Illinois has by far the most units of government in the nation, at nearly 7,000.
Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Illinois governments received the highest amount of federal funding per resident and, therefore, have the most to lose by maintaining their sanctuary status.
*Mark Glennon Governor Rauner today hired Illinois’ previous Comptroller, Leslie Munger, as Deputy Governor. “Deputy Governors” are essentially close advisors to the elected governor. Their duties are whatever are assigned to them by the governor. Rauner has another already, Trey Childress. Munger’s duties will include work with the budget and social service agencies. Munger is a welcome addition to Rauner’s team. She managed the impossible situation in the Comptroller’s office with smarts and integrity, where she earned the respect of the media. I got to know Munger reasonably well a few years ago. She’s one of
By: Mark Glennon* Tax receipts and other revenue for the State of Illinois declined again in January, continuing an ominous trend, according to the monthly report released today by COGFA, Illinois’ Commission on Governmental Forecasting and Accountability. Comparing last month to January of 2016, overall base revenues were off $167 million, or 5.4%. For the fiscal year-to-date (that started in July), base receipts are off $1.031 billion, or 5.9%. COGFA writes: The past months performance did little in the way of alleviating concerns over FY 2017 revenues spelled out in last month’s briefing, particularly the disturbing
Comment: Bitching about the problems but no solutions offered.
“Right now, in Illinois, everybody is saying, ‘We gotta have a budget, we need a balanced budget.’ It is simple math. If economic growth is slower than government spending growth, we don’t have balanced budgets,” he said. Comment: The math on that is clear. The only deniers seem to be in the General Asssembly.
The framework would create funding targets for districts based on the needs of a student population, rather than the current system in which every district receives the same base level of per-student funding. The group estimated it would cost an additional $3.5 billion to $6 billion to ensure each district has adequate funding.
Taking the cowardly way out, a commission tasked by Gov. Bruce Rauner with revising the state’s school funding formula decided not to recommend any specific legislation. Instead, the 25-member bi-partisan panel reached the conclusion that school districts with the poorest students need more funding, a fact that has been almost universally acknowledged by education experts throughout the country over the past 30 years.
Hundreds of people on the internet say they’re going to moon Trump Tower in an attempt to get its namesake developer-turned-president to release his tax returns.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER