Illinois Policy Headlined 📰

On Friday, April 15, 2016, 10:32 AM, Illinois Policy <digital@illinoispolicy.org> wrote:

Illinois to overtake New Jersey as state with highest property taxes  Illinois has nearly 7,000 units of local government. That's the highest count of any state in the nation, and the runner-up is not even close. Having thousands of local governments poses serious problems when it comes to oversight and efficiency. And as a result, Illinois will soon overtake New Jersey as the state with the highest property taxes. Many homeowners in Illinois are now paying twice for their houses over their lifetimes — once to the bank, and once to the government through property taxes. A look into the nature of local spending in Illinois reveals big opportunities for sorely needed property-tax savings through government consolidation, and also shows the high costs shouldered by Illinoisans due to decades of political inaction. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Illinois House passes bill to suspend fines for late license-plate renewal  The Illinois House has passed a bill to prohibit charging late fees to vehicle owners who renew their registration late due to the secretary of state's suspension of mailed reminders. The secretary of state's office stopped mailing renewal reminders to save $450,000 per month amid the state's budget crisis. Illinois motorists have paid nearly $5 million this year for failing to renew vehicle license plates on time, more than double the amount collected in the same three-month span last year. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Illinois' unemployment rate creeps up to 6.5% in March  Illinois gained 14,700 jobs on net in March, according to a preliminary jobs report released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. March's numbers mark three consecutive months of jobs growth in a state that had grown all too accustomed to job losses. Illinois' labor force added 37,700 people in March, continuing to grow at a rapid rate. Of those who entered the workforce, 28,000 found work – 9,600 remained unemployed. Continued workforce growth is good news – unfortunately, too many of those deciding to look for work again were unable to find it. This drove Illinois' unemployment rate to rise to 6.5 percent in March from 6.4 percent in February. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Cullerton proposes taxing Illinois drivers by the mile Illinois already hoses drivers at the pump — now, one of the state's most powerful politicians is eyeing a new way to collect road-usage taxes from all drivers — and to make sure electric-car drivers don't slip through the cracks. Senate President John Cullerton's bill would require all Illinois drivers to pay a per-mile road-user fee starting July 2017. Drivers would still be required to pay gas taxes at the pump, but would receive a tax credit from the state to cover the number of miles they drive per month, according to the legislation. If Cullerton's plan becomes law, drivers would have to pick one of three tracking options: two plans that utilize tracking devices, or a third option through which drivers pay a flat $450 per year. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward McDonald's counters Fight for $15 with automation The Fight for $15 campaign targeted McDonald's on April 14 as part of a new pre-Tax Day tradition, led by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU.    Chicago was one of 300 cities worldwide where strikes and protests were held. SEIU has spent $70 million on its Fight for $15 campaign. The union's Local 73 represents more than 28,000 government workers in Illinois and Indiana.   Protestors should have stopped by the McDonald's at Adams and Wells to meet their replacement – an automated McCafé kiosk. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Illinoisans work 119 days to pay for government Illinoisans have to work 119 days before they get to keep any of their hard-earned money, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which on April 6 released its annual "Tax Freedom Day" report for all 50 states, plus Washington, D.C. The Tax Foundation's annual report calculates how long taxpayers must work to pay all the taxes they owe for the year. If Illinoisans were to pay the government up-front all the federal, state and local taxes they owe for 2016, they'd have to work for the government until April 29, or 33 percent of the year, before getting to keep any of the money they earn. That's five days longer than the national average and nine days longer than the average taxpayer in a Midwestern state. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Adult Redeploy has saved taxpayers $70 million in avoided prison spending Adult Redeploy Illinois, a program that provides alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders, has helped divert more than 2,500 offenders from Illinois prisons since it began in 2011. That has saved taxpayers nearly $70 million in avoided incarceration costs and has reduced recidivism by up to 20%. Illinois can save millions more by continuing to invest in similar cost-effective alternatives to prison. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward Will Lisa Madigan shut down Illinois state government? As Illinois House of Representatives Speaker Mike Madigan locks horns with Gov. Bruce Rauner in a nearly 10-month long budget battle, a major power play has fallen into the lap of the speaker's daughter Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in March that thousands of state government workers were not entitled to back-pay raises owed to them because those funds were never appropriated by the General Assembly. This puts Lisa Madigan in a position to force the state to stop paying state workers, since lawmakers have not yet passed a bill funding their salaries. Rather, they have been funded under a court order from a St. Clair County judge. The attorney general's office is currently reviewing the state Supreme Court's decision. If Lisa Madigan decides to argue in court that the state must cease paying state workers and succeeds, government operations will grind to a halt, putting major pressure on Rauner to sign off on another unsustainable state budget that would likely subject Illinoisans to massive tax hikes with no real reform, long the priority of Speaker Madigan. Read the full article Share Share Tweet Forward

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