The Civic Federation supported the Governor's rejection of any broad-based tax increases but opposed the proposal to reduce pension funding by $527 million to balance the budget. It urged the General Assembly to hold public hearings to assess the impact of significant proposed changes to the State's corporate tax structure.
The Civic Federation supported some of the resolutions before the Northeastern Illinois Regional Transportation Task Force. It urged the Task Force to consider the criteria of sound fiscal policy, improved service, and continued federal funding in its deliberations over the resolutions.
This report provides a concise, objective analysis of the revenue structure of the State of Illinois.
The Civic Federation supported the FY2004 $52.4 billion State budget because it successfully eliminated a $5.4 billion deficit without any broad based tax increases. The Federation reiterated its support for the pension obligation bond issue to reduce the State’s unfunded pension liabilities, but issued a number of cautions as well.
The Civic Federation supported the Governor's proposal to issue long-term debt to meet the State's past pension obligations because of the dire budget condition of the State, past funding inadequacies, nad the currently historically low interest rates. However, the Federation strongly warned against the practice of debt financing to correct ordinary budget shortfalls or to fund normal operations.
The Civic Federation's legislative priorities for the 93rd General Assembly include property tax assessment appeals, public employee pensions, Illinois Toll Highway Authority, Cook County Forest Preserve District, State sales and income tax issues, and charter schools.
The Civic Federation opposed a toll increase by the Illinois Toll Highway Authority. No increase should be considered before the implementation of reforms including improved toll enforcement, congestion management strategies and independent verification of the Authority's revenues, road conditions, and management.
This report provides the results of several analyses and concludes that pending decisions by PTAB could create potentially large losses in local government revenue, and subsequently, significant tax burden shifts onto homeowners.
This study provides a systematic model of telecommunication taxes in Illinois and provides and objective analysis of the Chicagoland governments in relation to the structure of telecommuniation taxes in the state.
This report analyzes the issues surrounding decisions made by the Illinois property tax Appeal Board on the median level of assessment within Cook County. It includes recommendations for statutory changes to provide for an orderly property tax assessment appeals system.
