-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The winners of the battle for people and their incomes included states like South Carolina, Arizona, Texas and Florida. On the other end of the competition are states that have become perennial losers. Connecticut, New Jersey, Illinois and New York have experienced some of the nation’s biggest drain of people and their money.
It’s a hodgepodge of may-be-this-maybe-that non-conclusions and half-baked evasions from different subcommittees. It omits any quantification of the ideas it presents and offers no concrete recommendations whatsoever that can reasonably be expected to lower taxes meaningfully.
Ted was on the Illinois Channel last week taking a look at what happened to Illinois in 2019 and what the state needs to do to make 2020 a better year.
The firm, Juris Capital, is in the business of bankrolling litigation upfront, making bets that it will enjoy an ample cut of a plaintiff’s proceeds.
In LA, power over the Police Department resides with a professional civilian board of police commissioners. In Chicago, the mayor calls all the shots.
The results speak for themselves.
Republican political strategist Chris Robling does not mince words about his opinion of a plan to enact a margin tax on “businesses that conduct business in Chicago, minus certain labor costs.”
“New taxes are the problem, not the solution,” Robling told Chicago City Wire. “Illinois’ tax burden is already too high the way things are and not much good can come from any higher rates.”
“Our most troubled state” spent much of 2010 serving as a warning that states cannot tax themselves into prosperity and cannot thrive by using so much of their budget to line the pockets of government employees. Will this be the decade that the state learns its own lessons?
Lightford, the first African American woman to serve as Senate Majority Leader, represents the 4th District, based in the western suburbs. She’s a leading candidate to become Illinois’ next Senate President. Steans, from the 7th District on Chicago’s North Side, was a force behind passing the landmark legislation that legalized cannabis in Illinois.
Yet, what bonds them, intimately and fiercely, are their sons. Once sons, now daughters. Both women have transgender children who are transitioning to female.
Based on our Wirepoints report.
Comment: Naturally, 1IL’s article features a picture of Rauner at the top, blames him and concludes with this gem: “Pritzker is hoping to stem that tide with an overhaul of the state’s funding and taxation system — which will go before voters in November — and the legalization of marijuana that took effect New Year’s Day can’t hurt either when it comes to luring new residents to Illinois.”
Comment: See our own article linked here criticizing the draft report now available.
A federal judge has refused to back off her order blocking Cook County from demanding Bank of America reimburse the county potentially billions of dollars for property tax revenue the county says was lost amid the foreclosure crisis – a loss the county has blamed in part on alleged discriminatory lending practices.
You might think this century of failure would humble today’s Illinois politicians. Wrong. The current crop of Democrats who run Springfield want voters in November to approve switching the state from a flat income tax to a progressive tax. Their scheme at first would hit only the top 3% of income tax filers.
When Mayor Lori Lightfoot holds a hearing on the city’s franchise agreement with ComEd later this year, at least one alderman, socialist Daniel La Spata (1st), will vie for her to cancel it altogether.
His alternative? City Hall takes over the grid itself, transforming Chicago into a public power community like Los Angeles, Austin, Cleveland, and a number of other cities.
A probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice disclosed by the district in 2016 led to the filing in 2017 of criminal fraud charges against the district’s former superintendent, Lawrence Wyllie. He was accused of using bond proceeds to inflate the district’s apparent fiscal health. The charges remain pending.
After a series of unsatisfactory inspection reports, the psychiatric hospital now faces the potential loss of its state license, and the cut-off of federal Medicare and Medicaid funding. Most of the patients’ bills are paid by one of those programs.
This report is from September, but we missed it then, and it’s brutal on IL.
Comment: Hey, sounds like Wirepoints: “Exodus is a repetitive theme on this Editorial page, we know. Connecting the dots between high taxes, unsustainable pension costs and slow economic growth is a practice many elected officials in Chicago and Illinois would rather we shut up about.”
Precinct committeeman was once a job that aspiring politicians used to get a foot in the door of their party. These days, the elected position draws little interest. That’s understandable given the lack of pay and prestige and the generally minimal responsibilities. There are times, though, when the precinct committeeman plays a critical role. If a state representative dies in office or resigns, committeemen select a replacement.
“With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I would like to announce my selection for 2019’s “Most Unintentionally Comic Article of the Year.” It’s a genuine knee-slapper. I hope you think so, too. Capitol News Illinois recently produced an article headlined, “State funding for schools would lower property taxes.” Just let that headline sink in. In the great tradition of other over-educated lightweights, Frank Manzo (policy director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute) and Robert Bruno (equally impressive as director of the Project for Middle Class Renewal, where do they get these names?) authored a commissioned report (a sure sign of
From electric trucks and startups to international megamergers, the state of the fast-evolving auto industry in Illinois comes down to a tale of three cities: Normal, Belvidere and Chicago…. But a future that includes everything from electric and self-driving vehicles to assembly lines increasingly staffed by robots could portend more challenges for Illinois auto plants — and their workers — down the road.
A newly obtained FBI document shows not only what agents took from Jeff Tobolski’s McCook house but also reveals they visited the home of Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Tony Ragucci — and seized $60,000.
Consumers may foot the bill for concessions City Hall may squeeze out of utilities with its newfound muscle. Asked about what she’d like to see in the negotiations, Lightfoot recently said she supports an end to shut-offs for those delinquent on their electric bills. She said the same for Peoples Gas and its rising heating bills as well. Both utilities pass along to paying customers the cost of customer debt they write off.
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