The State of Illinois’ personal income tax revenue for FY2010 is now expected to be $850 million lower than projected when the budget was approved in July 2009, according to David Vaught, the newly appointed Director of the Government’s Office of Management and Budget. The latest estimate of approximately $9.4 billion is down roughly 8% from the $10.2 billion projection used to develop the budget for FY2010. Personal income tax collections—the State’s largest single revenue source—totaled…
This news story is about the CTA’s proposed fare increase to bridge a $180 million budget gap and its possible effect on the program that allows senior citizens to ride the CTA, Metra, and Pace for free. The Civic Federation points out that former governor Rod Blagojevich instituted the free rides for seniors program despite funding concerns. The Federation says that to help the CTA balance its budget, the Illinois General Assembly should repeal the program immediately.
In this blog post, Greg Hinz discusses the Civic Federation’s report comparing effective property tax rates in selected Chicago-area communities. The report concluded that the residential effective tax rate has risen or remained flat in nearly every one of the 32 municipalities, with the exception of Chicago.
Data from the most recent audited financial statements of Illinois’ state and local government pension funds shows that the total unfunded liabilities for pensions supported by the taxes of Chicago residents reached $10,037 per capita for fiscal year 2008. Property taxes paid by Chicago residents (both owners and renters) support the four pension funds for City of Chicago employees as well as the pension funds for employees of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, Cook County, Cook…
One of the Civic Federation’s ongoing concerns has been transparency in the use of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) by the City of Chicago and State of Illinois. Although the Civic Federation supports the use of TIF as municipal economic development tool, we believe that there is insufficient transparency in the availability and quality of TIF information provided to the public. The Civic Federation has published two pieces on TIF, an issue brief and a companion position statement about the use…
This week the Civic Federation released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report. The report highlights the fact that in 2007 property tax burdens for many Northeastern Illinois communities rose, while property tax rates in Chicago are still among the lowest in the area. Effective property tax rates is an average calculation that offers a method of comparing residents’ property tax burdens across municipalities and counties. For example, this report shows that in 2007 the average…
CHICAGO – Many communities across northeastern Illinois experienced a slight increase in their property tax burden in 2007 as effective tax rates rose, according to an estimate released today by the Civic Federation. Chicago continues to have one of the lowest property tax burdens for residential, commercial, and industrial properties in northeastern Illinois. Tax year 2007 is the most recent year for which data is available. Effective tax rates translate the tax rates that appear on…
This report compares effective property tax rates in selected communities around metropolitan Chicago and finds that many communities experienced a slight increase in their property tax burden in 2007. However, Chicago continues to have one of the lowest property tax burdens for residential, commercial, and industrial properties in the region. Click here to read the press release.
Laurence Msall, President of the Civic Federation, is interviewed for this segment of the City Room news program about the Federation’s fiscal analysis of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid. He points out that taxpayers face the greatest risk if the City of Chicago and Games organizers stray from the original bid plans and do not provide for transparency and oversight.
Did you ever wonder how your property tax dollars are spent by the City of Chicago? How many people work for the Department of Streets and Sanitation? How much those employees are paid? What kinds of taxes and fees the City levies and how much revenue it gets from each one? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in the City of Chicago’s budget documents and audited financial report. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there are four City budget documents published…
