Welcome to our inaugural Legislators’ Guide to the Issues.  We have broken down the relevant and pressing issues facing Illinois today into 2-4 page summaries, detailing the problems and offering specific solutions to putting Illinois back on the right track.

Three simple stats tell the current tale: Illinois ranks third to last in economic performance; Illinois ranks 3rd highest in net out-migration; and Illinois is 48th in cumulative non-farm employment growth from 1997 till 2007.


We can do better. This guidebook provides solutions that will put our once great state on the road to recovery. We hope you will use it. We are here as a resource to expand on these ideas in any way that you may find helpful.

Download the 2010 Illinois Legislators' Guide to the Issues here.

Printed copies of the book are available for $10.  Email LegislatorsGuide@illinoispolicy.org to order your copy.

Below, we have broken down the book into sections by topic.

• Letter of Welcome
• Key Facts
• Key Facts about Illinois
• Key Facts about Cook County
• Taxes
• Alcohol Taxes
• Cook County Sales Tax
• Franchise Tax
• Income Tax
• Property Taxes
• Sales Taxes
• Service Taxes
• Soda Taxes
• Streamlined Sales Tax Project
• Tobacco Taxes
• Spending
• Growth of State Spending
• Local Government Distributive Fund
• Government Employee Compensation
• Pension Liability
• Welfare Reform
• Government Reform
• Campaign Financing
• 
Committee Voting Transparency
• 
Council on Efficient Government
• 
Eminent Domain

• Government Transparency

• Online Reverse Auctions

• Open Records
• 
Regulatory Takings

• Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
• 
Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying
• Health Care
• Government Employee/Retiree Health Care
• Health Care “Crowd Out”
• Health Care Mandates
• Medicaid Expansion
• Workplace
• Economic Liberty
• Licensing Barriers
• Project Labor Agreements
• Right to Work
• Unemployment Insurance
• Energy & Transportation
• Affordable Energy
• Alternative Energy Subsidies
• Cap and Trade
• Energy Deregulation
• High-Speed Rail
• Public-Private Partnerships
• Education
• Charter Schools
• College Tuition
• Early Childhood Education
• Higher Education Academic Results
• Online Learning
• School Service Contracting
• School Finance
• Special Needs Scholarships
• Vouchers
• Endnotes

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