by Ashley Muchow Mercatus Center’s Veronique de Rugy has made it on our list of bloggable material for quite some. She has, yet again, delivered another applicable piece of statistical analysis. In the graph below, de Rugy uses the earliest records available to plot the historical path of tax revenue as a percentage of GDP and the trend of the top...
by Kate Piercy Free rides aren’t so free: According to a report from the University of Illinois, the free-rides program initiated and sent through the legislature by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich costs the CTA, Metra and Pace between $38 million and $116 million last year. On top of this, “Thousands of fraudulent free rides have been...
by Wesley Fox Over the last two years, many states have faced large budget shortfalls due to declines in revenue and continued spending at unaffordable rates. Some have dramatically cutback spending to balance their budgets, while others have raised taxes. The CATO Institute’s Fiscal Policy Report Card provides an excellent assessment of the responses of U.S. governors...
by Ashley Muchow Found this cartoon from Jack Higgins of the Chicago Sun-Times from a couple weeks back. Unfortunately, its “ticking time bomb” metaphor is all too accurate a description of Illinois’s state pension fund. See the Institute’s proposed solution to address the state’s $83 billion unfunded pension liability.
A newly launched Local Transparency Project in the Downers Grove Township area, by Liberty Leader Stephen Woodward, has begun to spark improvements in local government transparency. From the minutes of a recent Village of Burr Ridge Meeting comes this good news. Burr Ridge Scores High on Local Transparency Project The Illinois Policy Institute recently conducted a Local Transparency Audit in the...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Earlier today in Lynchburg, Virginia, District Court Judge Norman Moon dismissed Liberty University’s health care lawsuit on its merits. Judge Moon ruled that the plaintiffs, Liberty University and two individuals, “had standing to assert their constitutional claims against the individual and employer mandates in the health care law,” but “Congress acted in accordance with its constitutionally delegated powers under...
by Kate Piercy Restore homes damaged by floods or throw a picnic party? Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s administration decided to use federal grant money meant for restoring homes damaged by floods to instead treat families whose homes were damaged by the floods to a nearly $79,000 party at Brookfield Zoo. The Chicago Tribune reported: The Sept....
by Ashley Muchow According to the Civic Federation, the City of Chicago is $2.4 billion behind on its pension contributions. In fiscal year 2009, Chicago pumped $423.9 million into its Municipal, Laborers, Police, and Fire pension funds. Using GASB standards, the Civic Foundation found that the city was $566.5 million short of what should have been contributed. So why...
Earlier today, President Obama announced a plan to freeze civilian federal employee pay for two years. The pay freeze “applies to all Executive Branch workers — including civilian employees of the Defense Department, but does not apply to military personnel, government contractors, postal workers, members of Congress, Congressional staffers, or federal court judges and workers.” The pay freezewill also “not...
by Wesley Fox Illinois along with California have massive budget shortfalls in 2011. In order to help states deal with budget crises, University of Pennsylvania Law Professor David Skeel argues states should be able to go into bankruptcy. Local governments have been able to declare bankruptcy in order to settle debts since the 1930s, but states have...
by Ashley Muchow History has shown us that increasing the top margin personal income tax rate has done little to impact tax revenues. Indeed, over the past 60 years, tax revenues as a percentage of GDP have averaged just under 19.5 percent even when the top marginal tax rate has fluctuated from its 92% peak in...
by Wesley Fox According to the Department of Commerce and Economic OpportunityGrant Tracker website, the Little Black Pearl Workshop received a $71,000 grant to help complete the industrial arts glass studio, located at 1060 East 47th Street in Chicago. Specifically the funds were to be “used to complete the installation of a hood and exhaust system...
by Ashley Muchow Jack Higgins of the Chicago Sun Times has a fun illustration on the TSA body scan/pat down debacle. Check it out.
by Wesley Fox According to the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Department of Corrections is $95 million behind on its bills. Many prison vendors have not been paid in months. Some have stopped extending credit to correction centers, and two havestopped doing business with the Department of Corrections altogether. If Illinois does not start paying its bills on time, more...