CHICAGO – Today, the Civic Federation released a comprehensive report calling for Illinois legislators and Governor Pritzker’s administration to begin work on modernizing Illinois’ tax structure and improving its budgeting process. This report follows a Civic Federation issue brief outlining the State of Illinois’ economic challenges: Illinois Economic Landscape and Fiscal Structure. Together, these reports provide data and evidence of the economic and structural tax challenges that hinder…
The State of Illinois (Illinois or the “State”) has made significant progress in stabilizing its budget in recent years, yet still faces ongoing financial challenges, including a high tax burden, structural budget deficits, and legacy pension obligations, all of which put a strain on the state’s long-term sustainability. Overshadowing these challenges is the unprecedented uncertainty in Washington, D.C., with a new federal administration that threatens to eliminate billions of dollars in…
CHICAGO – Today, the Civic Federation released a comprehensive report calling for Illinois legislators and Governor Pritzker’s administration to begin work on modernizing Illinois’ tax structure and improving its budgeting process. This report follows a Civic Federation issue brief outlining the State of Illinois’ economic challenges: Illinois Economic Landscape and Fiscal Structure. Together, these reports provide data and evidence of the economic and structural tax challenges that hinder…
Executive Summary Illinois’ fiscal policies significantly influence economic growth and employment in the state. How do those choices affect Illinois’ status as a top-tier place to “live, work, and do business,” and what specific fiscal factors appear most related to desired economic growth and investment state-wide? This report complements the Civic Federation’s upcoming State Budget Roadmap report by providing a substantive overview of Illinois’ economic landscape and fiscal structure,…
CHICAGO – The Civic Federation released six reports in October and November, covering an array of local government finance and tax topics, including the estimated full market value of real estate in Cook County, Cook County’s pension fund, effective property tax rates, the City of Chicago debt burden, and the State of Illinois’ FY2025 capital budget, among others.
The General Assembly has approved, and Governor Pritzker has signed an approximately $50.9 billion FY2025 capital budget. Unlike the State’s annual General Funds budget, which is intended to cover only the cost of operations for the current fiscal year, capital appropriations are reauthorized over multiple years as planning, engineering and construction of capital investments commence. Since 2005 the capital budget has been proposed in a separate document from the State’s operating budget…
In its analysis of the State of Illinois FY2025 Proposed Budget, the Civic Federation finds the State has reached a more stable financial condition due to higher-than-expected revenue growth and prudent fiscal management. With revenue growth slowing, however, the Federation recommends the State develop a plan to optimize its spending and modernize its tax structure.CHICAGO — The Civic Federation today released its analysis of the State of Illinois FY2025 proposed budget, finding the State…
In its analysis of the State of Illinois FY2025 Proposed Budget, the Civic Federation finds the State has reached a more stable financial condition due to higher-than-expected revenue growth and prudent fiscal management. With revenue growth slowing, however, the Federation recommends the State develop a plan to optimize its spending and modernize its tax structure.CHICAGO — The Civic Federation today released its analysis of the State of Illinois FY2025 proposed budget, finding the State…
The State of Illinois has made significant progress on stabilizing its finances, ending each of the past four fiscal years with budget surpluses. Those surpluses were driven by several factors: strong revenue performance via a strong economic recovery from COVID-19 and the State’s enactment of budgets in better structural balance than past practice. The State has also prioritized payment of outstanding debt including COVID-related borrowing, interfund borrowing, the Unemployment Insurance Trust…
The Civic Federation today released a position paper calling on the Illinois General Assembly to pursue foundational structural reform of Northeastern Illinois’ mass transit systems—the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra, Pace and the Regional Transit Authority (RTA)—by centralizing the service boards and operations under a single, duly empowered and resourced regional transit agency. Doing so would allow for more efficient, effective, integrated and equitable service delivery as well as…
