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Trade and real estate groups joined to file a federal complaint in April against Oak Park over the natural gas ban. The Clean Energy Choice Coalition said the ordinance is “invalid and unenforceable” under federal energy laws, limits consumer choice and causes “business and financial harm.”
The state has not had a sales tax holiday for back-to-school since the 2022 school year, and will not have one in 2025. There was an effort made to establish a back-to-school tax holiday this year, as state Sen. Christopher Belt introduced Senate Bill 1673 during the spring legislative session.
Former state Rep. Jeanne Ives, now of Breakthrough Ideas, said the National Voter Registration Act requires the state to perform list maintenance and remove ineligible voters. “I’ve pointed out a couple of dead people that I know cast votes, and there was no adequate explanation for why that occurred. Because they were not cleaned off the voter roll, it invited fraud one way or another. In the state of Illinois, this becomes even more problematic when you have permanent vote by mail,” Ives explained.
“We are asking the court to block these actions and protect access for patients who desperately need it,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said. “In Illinois, we have made it clear that seeking or providing health care for transgender youth and adults is not only lawful but welcome in our state.”
Illinois and Nevada have not even issued their reports for the previous fiscal year (FYE 6/30/23)—meaning they are over a year behind in providing audited financial information to taxpayers, policymakers, and the public.
In an exchange with CPS board member and Johnson appointee Michilla Blaise, state Rep. Curtis Tarver said Chicago’s mayor has demonstrated a lack of leadership. “The mayor does not have four votes outside of city legislators, if he has that, for anything that he wants to do, which is why he came up short with every single thing he asked for this year,” Tarver said.
The high property tax rates are across Cook County, not just in Chicago. Commercial property taxes increased for businesses in Ford Heights by 42 percent. Once a hub for transportation and industry, Ford Heights has become an opportunity desert, burdened by a staggering 19.19 percent effective commercial property tax rate in 2019. The median effective commercial property tax rate in Cook County that year was 8.26 percent.
“Two times a year, my office mails nearly 1.8 million property tax bills and collects over $18 billion. That’s not a typo — $18 billion. As Cook County treasurer, I oversee the second-largest property tax collection and distribution system in the United States. Only Los Angeles County is bigger.”
“The testimony from victims about the failure of a fragmented court system to provide adequate services and protect the women and children seeking their support was heartbreaking. Survivors testified about the lack of services, devastating wait times, abusive judges, and a complicated and expensive system impossible to navigate to receive relief.”
The Mag Mile has seen a revolving door of retailers in recent years, with most closing up shop. Gregory Kirsch, managing broker at Chicago-based Kirsch Agency, said the northern part of Michigan Avenue has suffered more since large retailers like Macy’s and Uniqlo closed their stores. He said retail vacancy along Mag Mile is 29.2 percent.
Ted joined Scott Slocum to talk about why Illinois is struggling against other states in every major financial, demographic and economic metric that matters, the dangerous intersection of Illinois’ sanctuary status and the SAFE-T Act, the problem that is Chicago’s pension crisis, and more.
The biggest potential moneymakers are an increase in property taxes, with a high-end estimate of $396 million, and an increase in the $9-a-month garbage collection fee, with a potential yield of $296.9 million. The perennial idea of extending the state sales tax to professional services has a potential annual yield of $305 million, but that’s a change that can only be made by the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. JB Pritzker has given a cold shoulder to
“The mayor is letting down the people who elected him,” former governor Rod Blagojevich said. “He’s got a responsibility to serve Chicagoans – the people who elected him – not the illegal immigrants who’ve come here. He’s supposed to keep us safe, and keep our taxes reasonable or low, and not spend nearly $1 billion of taxes on people who are not from Chicago.”
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “In addition to enabling corruption and exacerbating discrimination, aldermanic privilege also can simply enable bad policy — or block the adoption of good law. That’s what is happening with the push to prevent expansion of accessory dwelling units across the city.”
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