The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on all sectors, including the criminal justice system. How are the public safety agencies in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois responding to the public health emergency? Cook County Jail On March 9, the day Illinois Governor JB Pritzker declared a state of emergency, the Cook County Jail had about 5,700 people in jail (“behind the walls”) and another 2,430 people under the Sheriff’s custody on community supervision (electronic monitoring).…
The Civic Federation is examining the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the State of Illinois and its local governments. The following are blog posts and other items covering various topics related to the pandemic. Final Cook County Coronavirus Relief Fund Allocations March 5, 2021 Cook County has accounted for all $429 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) funding the County received through the federal CARES Act in 2020, according to a report presented by…
States are currently facing monumental fiscal challenges posed by the economic and revenue impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. However, their ability to use fiscal policies to address these challenges is quite limited due to structural and capacity issues. Only the federal government has the resources and capacity to implement meaningful countercyclical fiscal policies that might mitigate severe economic and fiscal disruption in the states. This blog post first provides a basic discussion of…
This blog post presents information about the different types of individual income taxes imposed by state governments in the United States. In 2020 forty-one states levied individual income taxes. States currently use flat rate or graduated rate models for their individual income tax rate structures. Three states use a variation of the graduated income tax structure, employing “recapture” rates that combine both graduated and flat rate features. Every state has numerous exemptions, deductions…
The coronavirus could have a devastating impact on the State of Illinois’ tax revenues, according to the first official State report that attempts to quantify the fiscal fallout from the crisis. The new report, from the Illinois General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (…
Throughout the United States there is a bipartisan consensus that too many people are incarcerated. The concerns focus on the impact on inmates’ families and communities, the loss of productive human potential, racial inequities and high financial cost. Despite recent reductions, Illinois still holds nearly 40,000 adults in its prison system, with significant fiscal impact. Illinois spends an estimated $22,000 in operational expenses to incarcerate one person for a year.[1] This figure rises…
As Illinois voters head to the polls for next week’s Presidential primary, this blog post looks at another major choice that will be on the general election ballot in November: whether to replace the State’s flat-rate income tax with a graduated rate structure. The post reviews the proposed new tax rates and examines who will pay more under the new plan and how much revenue it is expected to raise. Illinois has had a flat rate—currently 4.95% for individuals—since the income tax was instituted…
As described in a previous blog post, Governor J.B. Pritzker’s proposed General Funds budget for FY2021 totals $42.0 billion, which is a $2.0 billion, or 5.1%, increase above estimated FY2020 spending of $40.0 billion. The budget for all funds totals $84.5 billion. All funds include funds outside of the general operating funds such as other State funds and other federal funds, but not capital funds. The State’s 2021 fiscal year runs from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. This blog post…
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s second budget proposal avoids many of the pitfalls of his initial budget recommendation. The proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, 2020 makes the full pension contribution required by State law and does not depend on one-time revenues that will not be available in future years. Instead, the FY2021 budget relies on revenue that will only be available upon approval of a constitutional amendment in November 2020. If voters reject the shift…
In December the Civic Federation explored how Illinois, its local governments and other states tax recreational cannabis. In this post we will look at how those cannabis tax revenues will be spent by the State of Illinois and compare those priorities to other states. The Illinois Department of Revenue projects the State will collect $57 million in FY2020 from cannabis taxes and licensing fees and $140.5 million from taxes alone in FY2021, which starts July 1, 2020. But how will those revenues…
