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Archive for the ‘Illinois Policy Institute’ Category

How much did Illinois take from your town’s income taxes?

Posted in Cook, County, Illinois Policy Institute, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Politics, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes on December 23, 2025| 1 Comment »

Illinois local governments lost out on over $10.9 billion in income tax revenue since fiscal year 2012. Here’s what your city or county lost.

By Patrick Andriesen | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois local governments lost out on more than $10.9 billion in income tax revenue since fiscal year 2012, thanks to state lawmakers cutting the share of income taxes promised to municipalities and counties.

The state kept the difference.

An Illinois Policy Institute analysis found state lawmakers’ decision to reduce the local share from 10% of net income tax collections to less than 7% has cost municipalities over $9.49 billion since FY 2012. That includes cities, towns and villages and meant fewer dollars for programs and services, infrastructure, and potential property tax relief.

Use our table below to find out how much more income tax revenue your municipality would have received.

In addition to the municipal losses, county governments lost another $1.43 billion. Use our table below to find out much more income tax revenue your county would have collected.

More here.

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Cook County property taxes funding pensions more than service

Posted in BCFPD, Cook, County, Illinois Policy Institute, Jewel-Osco, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on December 18, 2025| 1 Comment »

Cook County homeowners face rising property taxes. Three-fourths of that money is going to police and fire pensions instead of services.

By LyLena Estabine | Illinois Policy Institute 

Property tax bills (were) due Dec. 15th, and Cook County homeowners are facing tax bills that have grown 16%.

With more money being collected, it makes sense residents would expect better services from the public safety institutions funded by their tax dollars, such as police and fire departments. But Illinois Department of Revenue data from 2023 shows 74% of the money for these entities is going to fund pensions, with little left for public safety.

Cook County weighed down by police, fire pensions

Municipal police and fire department property tax levies for Cook County, 1996-2023, adjusted for inflation and excluding Chicago

Since 1996, the amount of money municipalities in Cook County outside of Chicago have levied to keep up with police and fire pensions has grown nearly five times. The amount levied to keep up services has not even doubled.

Police and firemen receive generous pensions, and rightly so given the dangerous nature of their work. When those benefits become overpromised – as they have become in Illinois – they undermine retirement security and reduce the amount of money available for service.

More here.

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Atlas Van Lines: Illinois exodus continues, but slows in 2025

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Cost of Living, Ethics, Illinois Policy Institute, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on December 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

More people still moved out of Illinois than moved in during 2025, but the gap was smaller than it’s been for the past 16 years, according to Atlas Van Lines.

By Patrick Andriesen | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois’ outbound migration crisis slowed after 16 years of losses, with new data from Atlas Van Lines showing a smaller gap between moves in and moves out of the state in 2025 than in any year since 2008.

While the Atlas report was an improvement, other moving companies reported bleaker results.

The new Atlas report found 54% of the company’s clients moved out of Illinois during 2025 while 46% moved into Illinois. The company considered that gap to be statistically even, but said a big factor behind the ratio could be “overall mobility remains low today, primarily due to affordability constraints such as the high cost of home ownership and limited inventory.”

Previous Atlas studies found Illinois lost residents every year between 2009 and 2024, with the trend peaking at 63% of movers leaving in 2023. The company has tracked client relocations every year dating back to at least 1993.

Other moving companies also produce similar surveys that show Illinois as a place to leave. Allied Van Lines shows a 58% outbound rate for 2025, ranking Illinois No. 1 for losing people. United Van Lines data is reported in January, and it last reported 60% of its moves in 2024 were out of Illinois, ranking No. 2 in the nation.

Atlas reported the U.S. states with the highest rates of individuals moving in were Arkansas followed by Idaho. Louisiana saw the highest rate of people leaving, followed by West Virginia.

Read more here.

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$1B, unneeded tax hike coming to a tollway near you?

Posted in BOHICA, IDOT, Illinois Policy Institute, Illinois Tollway, Look For The Union Label, Overhead, Pension Funding, Politics, Springfield, Taxes on December 13, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Chicago-area drivers could end up paying $1 billion more in tolls each year as part of a deal state lawmakers admitted was made to get labor union support.

By Patrick Andriesen and Ravi Mishra | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois drivers face up to $1 billion more in tollway fees per year – money the tollways do not need – as part of a deal Springfield leaders admitted they made to get labor unions to back a Chicago-area mass transit bailout.

The Illinois Tollway board could vote as soon as Dec. 18. It would take an extra $329 per year from the typical driver.

Analysts estimated the 45-cent spike will drive the average passenger toll to $1.24, leading to $329 yearly increase for the typical commuter starting in 2027. Commercial truckers could also find themselves paying $1.73 more, or $1,264 a year.

Starting in 2029, tollway fees will automatically rise with inflation with a 4% cap per year applied every two years, regardless of the actual tollway needs. The automatic hikes make it hard for voters to hold lawmakers responsible for the hikes and will swell the tollway coffers.

That kind of automatic hike was applied to the state’s gas tax, leading to a $3.3 billion surplus and record-high taxes thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Illinois’ gas tax were 19 cents before he doubled them and added the inflationary hikes, putting the tax at 48.3 cents per gallon currently.

The Illinois Tollway Authority was initially sold to voters as a temporary way to fund new highways: “Toll free in ’73.” That was intended to be 1973, but with the automatic hikes will likely still be going in 2073.

The tollway hikes were not needed but rather a gift to reward labor unions for supporting the Regional Transportation Authority bailout of Chicago area mass transit. Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch said the toll hike was the price Illinoisans had to pay for labor union support.

“It was important to them, if they were going to agree to give up almost $1 billion dollars a year from the road fund, that they can point to something that will help keep working people working and keep roads getting repaired,” Welch told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Read more here.

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Transit sales tax hike makes suburbs pay for Chicago problems

Posted in Illinois Policy Institute, METRA, Overhead, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Traffic, Unions on December 11, 2025| 1 Comment »

Chicago-area transit riders deserve safe, reliable service. But the Regional Transportation Authority board might soon ask the wrong people to pay for it.

By Dylan Sharkey | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinoisans shouldn’t be taxed for a service they can’t use, but the Regional Transportation Authority board is expected to vote on doing just that: imposing a regionwide sales-tax increase.

The board will meet Dec. 18 to adopt its 2026 budget, which relies on raising the RTA sales tax by 0.25 percentage point across Cook County and the collar counties. Pritzker is expected before 2026 to sign the bill authorizing the tax, which would take effect July 1 and then need final transit board approval within 60 days.

Supporters argue it’s needed to avoid looming service cuts and big fare hikes tied to transit’s “fiscal cliff.” But the tax collects money from suburban shoppers with sparse transit options and sends it to the urban areas where agencies have made poor decisions and failed to enact needed change. It also lets leaders ignore existing funds already taken from taxpayers.

What is the RTA sales tax?

To fund CTA, Metra and Pace, residents in areas served by mass transit currently pay:

  • 1% sales tax on general merchandise in Cook County.
  • 1.25% sales tax on qualifying food, drugs, and medical appliances in Cook County.
  • 0.75% sales tax on general merchandise and qualifying food, drugs, and medical appliances in DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

If Pritzker and the RTA board approve, the 0.25% will be added to all three existing sales taxes to generate $478 million leaders claim is needed to avoid transit’s fiscal cliff. That fiscal cliff is mostly a Chicago Transit Authority problem: Metra and Pace serve the suburbs and have challenges of their own, but the CTA dominates the RTA’s budget.

Penalizing people who don’t use CTA is a problem when it takes the biggest share of the budget. Part of the funding solution is using money from the state’s road fund, which has more than $3 billion taxpayers have already contributed. The state should spend what it already has before taking more.

Read more here.

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Illinois lawmakers push retirement tax to keep spending more

Posted in Aunt Blabby, Barrington Education Association, BOHICA, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Policy Institute, Pension Funding, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on December 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

As state lawmakers look to plug budget holes by removing limits on state income tax rates, Illinois’ spending is set to continue breaking records.

By Ravi Mishra | Illinois Policy Institute

The state budget has grown by 35% since 2020, but Illinois lawmakers want more and hope to get it by amending the Illinois Constitution so they can potentially tax retirees and target income groups of their choosing.

The proposed amendment would end Illinois’ longstanding flat income tax. Supporters claim it would relieve property tax pressures and boost school funding. But voters statewide rejected progressive tax schemes because they promised to hit retirees, family farms and small businesses hard.

The flat tax makes it painful for state lawmakers to raise taxes, because when they do all taxpayers suffer and hold them responsible at the next election. Killing the flat tax gives lawmakers the power to divide and conquer taxpayers.

Illinois has record spending

The problem is not income but rather spending: Illinois’ budget has grown at an alarming rate. An influx of federal pandemic funds marked for temporary relief allowed lawmakers to add billions into the general funds baseline spending.

Since 2020, Illinois’ annual general funds spending has increased by over $15 billion and is projected to grow another $7 billion by 2029. That would mark a 55% spending increase in just 10 years.

With the state projecting nearly $11 billion in budget deficits through 2029, this level of unchecked spending is unsustainable.  That is, unless state lawmakers can force more taxation on Illinoisans.

Read more here.

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How well are your local third graders reading?

Posted in 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on December 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Illinois lowered its standards in 2025, but over half of third graders still couldn’t read at grade level. It’s a critical milestone. See how your students did.

By Hannah Schmid | Illinois Policy Institute

Even under loosened proficiency standards, over half of Illinois third graders couldn’t read at grade level in 2025.

How well did your local public school prepare children to read by the critical third-grade milestone?

Assessment data from spring 2025 shows Illinois students across grades continued to struggle to read.

But the data is particularly concerning when it comes to third graders.

If a child has not learned to read by the end of third grade, that child is likely to struggle throughout his or her education. That’s because fourth grade is when students move from learning to read to reading as their main method of learning.

Clearly, there is a literacy crisis in Illinois, and it threatens the future of Illinois’ children.

Read more here.

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Blacker Friday: Illinois shoppers face sales tax hit

Posted in Cost of Living, Illinois Policy Institute, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Springfield, Taxes on November 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Holiday shoppers are eager to spend this year. Illinois is overly eager to tax them.

By Jerry Barmore | Illinois Policy Institute

The 2025 holiday shopping season is expected to be strong, with 186.9 million people – 3 million more than last year’s record – planning to make purchases from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

While this is great news for retailers and a good sign for the economy, Illinois shoppers will see their bills padded by the nation’s seventh-highest combined state and local sales tax averaging 8.92%. Some local governments hike the sales tax well above that rate.

Chicago shoppers see a 10.25% sales tax bumping up the checkout totals on all their purchases. Chicago’s sales tax is the second highest of any major city in the nation, but it will go even higher in the New Year: 10.5%, becoming  the No. 1 sales tax in the nation as part of a transit bailout.

Illinois’ tax policies aren’t much better. They’re a drag on the state’s economy, as is shown by the state’s worsening tax competitiveness rating compared with other states. Illinois recently dropped six spots in the national rankings, losing out to 37 other states and putting in the worst performance of any state in the Midwest.

This kind of trajectory only discourages business formation and prompts families and businesses that are already here to consider leaving the state, maybe for shopping or maybe for good. Polls show voters are fed up and see high taxes as the top issue facing Illinois.

Read more here.

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Illinois lawmakers again push disguised ‘retirement tax’

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Cost of Living, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Illinois Policy Institute, Immigration, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on November 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Illinois voters soundly rejected a progressive state income tax because it was a path to tax retirees. That isn’t stopping state lawmakers from trying again.

By Ravi Mishra | Illinois Policy Institute

Lawmakers introduced a new bill to end Illinois’ long-standing flat income tax and replace it with a progressive structure – a move that could impose taxes on retirees and others.

The move comes as Illinois tax revenues have reached record highs. Illinoisans face some of the nation’s biggest tax burdens.

This isn’t even the legislature’s first progressive tax attempt this year. And for a second time, former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing the idea.

Voters statewide rejected a progressive tax because it hands state lawmakers power to set tax rates at whatever they want on whomever they want, including on retirees who are not taxed by the state on their retirement income. Calls for taxing “millionaires” are deceptive bids to go after the income brackets of family farms and small businesses – not penthouse residents.

Plus, after state lawmakers have the power to tax one income group, nothing stops them from adding another, and another, and another. Dividing and conquering avoids the political backlash of raising everyone’s flat tax.

Record revenues driven by tax hikes, not growth

Illinois has collected $54 billion in 2025, marking an 35% increase since 2020. The surge didn’t come from economic growth, but rather from at least 50 tax hikes imposed during Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration.

Despite record revenues, Illinois has had among the slowest economic growth in the nation. Since Pritzker’s first term, the state has ranked 45th nationally in economic growth and dead last in the Midwest. High taxes have been a primary driver of stagnation, through discouragement of investment, loss of population and lack of entrepreneurship.

Despite this, lawmakers keep looking towards progressive tax schemes to give themselves more to spend.

Read on here.

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Illinois firefighter pensions torch local finances

Posted in BCFPD, Cook, Cost of Living, County, Illinois Policy Institute, Jewel-Osco, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Overhead, Property Taxes, Taxes, Unions on November 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

In Lake County and across Illinois, fire pensions are driving up property taxes and leaving fewer resources for safety.

By LyLena Estabine | Illinois Policy Institute

Chicago fire pensions may be close to insolvency, but the city is not alone: firefighter pensions are consuming most of the resources needed to keep communities safe.

Statewide, the most recent data shows municipal fire department increased property taxes by $371.6 million between 1996 and 2023, adjusted for inflation. While the total tripled, pensions have gone from taking less than half of the property taxes to taking nearly three-fourths: $311.6 million more in 2023 than in 1996.

Actual fire protection operated on $60 million more than in 1996.

Firefighters receive generous pensions, and rightly so given the dangerous nature of their work. However, when those benefits become overpromised – as they have become in Illinois – they undermine retirement security and reduce the amount of money available for service. Police and fire pensions outside of Chicago reported combined liabilities of $493.1 billion in 2024, with only 49 cents on hand for each dollar owed.

The low funding ratio isn’t because property taxes aren’t going towards pensions. In most counties more property tax revenue is going towards pensions than in the past. In 1996, 48% of these revenues went toward pensions compared to 73% in 2023. A similar pattern can be seen in counties across the state.

That doesn’t mean every town is cutting back on fire services, but it does mean an increasing share of local tax dollars is being consumed by pension costs rather than the services residents rely on.

At 1.83% of their home’s value each year, Illinoisans pay the highest average effective property tax rate in the nation. But in some communities, it’s worse than that figure would indicate.

Read more here.

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