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Archive for the ‘Illinois Policy Institute’ Category

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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Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District Board meets tonight

Posted in Agendas, BCFPD, Illinois Policy Institute, Jewel-Osco, Open Meetings Act, Politics, Property Taxes, Taxes, Transparency, Unions on November 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District (BCFPD) Board of Trustees meets tonight at 6:30 PM at 22222 N. Pepper Road in Lake Barrington. Topics on their agenda include:

  • Fiscal Year 2025 Audit Closeout
  • Consideration and possible approval of a Resolution approving Communication and Coordination Policy for the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District
  • 2025 Tax Levy Discussion and Determination

A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.

Related topic: “Illinois firefighter pensions torch local finances”

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Chicago’s high sales taxes about to increase to No. 1 in nation

Posted in Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Taxes on November 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Chicago-area sales taxes were already No. 2 in the U.S., but new taxing authority handed to the Regional Transportation Authority will raise them to No. 1.

By Ravi Mishra | Illinois Policy Institute

Chicago’s 10.25% combined sales tax currently ranks second among major cities, behind only Seattle’s 10.35%, but a 0.25-point hike for transit will make them the highest in America.

The new Regional Transportation Authority funding bill, which increases the Chicago metro area sales tax by 0.25 percentage points, has passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and now sits on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. Once signed, it will give Chicago the highest sales-tax rate of any major city in the nation at 10.5%.

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Chicago’s current sales tax is broken down into four categories:

  • 6.25% statewide sales tax.
  • 1.25% city sales tax.
  • 1.75% county sales tax.
  • 1% RTA tax.

Under the bill, the RTA portion of the tax will rise from 1% to1.25% in Cook County starting June 2026. In the collar counties it will increase from 0.75% to 1%.

Now that this bill has cleared the state legislature, Pritzker will have 60 days to sign it into law.

Read more here.

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Pritzker vetoes 5th lowest of 16 Democrat-controlled states

Posted in Commodius Maximus, Ethics, Girlie man, Illinois Policy Institute, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order on November 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

In Illinois, 99% of state bills passed by the Democratic supermajority become law with no objection by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Democracy suffers without checks and balances.

By Lilly Rossi | Illinois Policy Institute

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker rarely sees a bill he doesn’t like from his Democratic supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly, making him a rarity even among governors in Democrat-controlled states.

He ranked fifth-fewest vetoes of the 16 governors in states where Democrats control the governor’s mansion and both legislative chambers.

More than three-fourths of state governments are controlled by one party. With one party dominating the legislative process, the focus veers towards party wins rather than wins for the people.

One party controls 38 state governments across the United States.

States with a Republican-controlled government vetoed an average of 11 bills in 2025 while states with a Democrat-controlled government vetoed an average of 20 bills.

More here.

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Illinois, Chicago voters rank high taxes as No. 1 issue

Posted in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Illinois Policy Institute, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

More than half of Illinois voters and one-third of Chicago voters said high taxes were their No. 1 concern. Despite that, Springfield and Chicago politicians both are hiking taxes again to spend more.

By Patrick Andriesen | Illinois Policy Institute

More than half of Illinois voters polled said high taxes were the No. 1 issue facing the state, according to a survey conducted for the Illinois Policy Institute.

High taxes were the top issue impacting the state for 52% of the 929 registered Illinois voters polled Oct. 8-10 for the institute by M3 Strategies. Half as many were worried about the economy, the No. 2 concern.

Voters in the city of Chicago also ranked high taxes as their No. 1 worry. Taxes topped the concerns of 35% of the 530 Chicagoans polled Oct. 17-20.

The October poll marked the first time this year Chicago’s likely general election voters ranked high taxes as a bigger concern than crime.

While both the statewide and Chicago-specific polls showed high taxes had voters worried, their elected representatives are continuing to raise taxes rather than control spending.

Lawmakers in Springfield approved new taxes Oct. 31 to keep Chicago-area public transit running. They intend to hike toll road fees and raise the sales tax in Cook County and its collar counties by 0.25 percentage points.

Read more here.

Related: “CUSD 220 proposing 7.32 percent tax levy increase”

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