Taxes and Fees

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The Illinois Taxes No One Wants to Talk About

This article discusses Civic Federation recommendations from the FY2019 State of Illinois Budget Roadmap to expand the Illinois income tax to include federally-taxable retirement income and broaden the sales tax base to a number of services. The article points out that neighboring states also tax retirement income and services. Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said that tax increases…

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Coverage of FY2019 State of Illinois Operating Budget Analysis

The following news items cover the release of the Institute for Illinois' Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation's analysis of the State of Illinois FY2019 Recommended Operating Budget. The Federation could not support Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended budget because it is precariously balanced and its modest surplus relies on aggressive assumptions. Additionally, the…

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State of Illinois FY2019 Recommended Operating Budget: Analysis and Recommendations

Click here to read the full report. The Civic Federation’s Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability is not able to support Governor Bruce Rauner’s recommended FY2019 budget because it is precariously balanced and its modest surplus relies on aggressive assumptions. Additionally, the proposal does little to address Illinois’ massive backlog of bills. While the Civic Federation is encouraged…

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Measuring the Impact of a Graduated Income Tax in Illinois Part II – Taxing Retirement Income at Graduated Rates

In a recent post, this blog analyzed the potential impact on State of Illinois revenues from replacing the current flat income tax rate with a graduated income tax. This post extends the analysis by looking at the effect of combining a graduated tax rate with the Civic Federation’s longstanding proposal to tax retirement income. As explained here, Illinois, like most states, bases its individual…

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Measuring the Impact of a Graduated Income Tax in Illinois

Of the 41 states with broad-based personal income taxes, Illinois is one of eight with a flat tax rate. The Illinois Constitution requires everyone to pay a single statutory rate, regardless of taxable income. The other 33 states and the federal government have graduated income tax rates, with higher rates applied to higher income levels. Should Illinois amend its constitution to allow graduated…

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Selected Consumer Taxes in the City of Chicago - 2018

Click here to read this issue brief. This annual brief provides a compilation of selected consumer taxes, including rates and descriptions, in place in the City of Chicago as of January 1, 2018. The taxes in this report are grouped under the following categories: sales taxes, tobacco-related taxes, beverage-related taxes, utility-related taxes, accommodations-related taxes,…

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State of Illinois FY2019 Budget Roadmap

Click here to read the full report. Prior to the release of the Governor’s annual budget recommendation, the Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability at the Civic Federation releases an analysis of the State of Illinois’ fiscal condition. This report presents the Civic Federation’s multi-year plan to stabilize Illinois’ finances and balance the State's budget.  While Illinois has…

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2015 Effective Property Tax Rates in the Collar Counties

The Civic Federation recently released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report. The report highlights that in 2015 property tax burdens for many communities declined from the previous year. While analysis of the report often focuses on the 12 Cook County municipalities included in the study, this blog will examine the selected communities in the collar counties. An effective property tax…

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'Real' property tax rates finally drop—but not for city homeowners

This article discusses the recent release of a Civic Federation report that estimates the effective property tax rates for 29 selected communities in northeastern Illinois between 2006 and 2015. According to the report, most of the selected communities saw a decrease in their residential effective property tax rates in tax year 2015. However, effective tax rates increased for all…

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Study Compares Property Tax Burden In Northeast Illinois

(CHICAGO) The Civic Federation released its annual estimate of effective property tax rates in the six-county region of northeastern Illinois today. Among the 12 selected Cook County communities, Harvey had the highest effective tax rate for residential properties at 6.90% in tax year 2015, while Chicago had the lowest residential rate in Cook County at 1.66% and the second lowest of all 29…