• It reduces our reliance on property taxes to fund schools by mandating an annual property tax abatement of $2.9 billion (indexed to inflation for each subsequent year) with every property owner seeing a minimum of 20% property tax relief on the portion of the bill designated to education.
• The Invest in Illinois Fund is created and funded with $1 billion each year to provide funding for debt service and fees on bonds for capital projects, such as roads and schools, throughout the State.
• The bill also mandates a $300 million annual appropriation (indexed for inflation) for grants to institutions of Higher Education.
• Increases for Early Childhood education are phased in, from $45 million in 2009-2010 to $180 million in 2012-2013.
• Increases to the Foundation Level are phased in, raising it from $6,044 for the 2009-2010 school year (from $5,734) up to $6,974 for the 2012-2013 school year.  The Foundation Level and Supplemental General State Aid (Poverty Grants) are automatically tied to increases to the Employment Cost Index to control for inflation.
• Creates a School Improvement Partnership Fund to target resources to proven programs such as smaller class sizes, literacy coaching, longer school days and teacher mentoring;
• Maintains and expands grants for high-poverty schools
• The personal income tax is increased to 5% (from 3%), and the corporate income tax is increased to 8% (from 4.8%).
• Family Tax Credits are provided to single taxpayers earning less than $26,695 and married couples earning less than $53,694.

Click here to listen to a presentation on SB 2288 by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Southern Illinois University

Student Center - Ballroom D

Carbondale, IL

Illinois will have to meet several serious chal­lenges during the next few years. The state is hampered by a large amount of debt, a lack of reserves and a severely underfunded pension system. The governor and legislature have spent the past year in an increasingly vitriolic battle over taxes, health care and mass transit funding. To tackle these issues effectively, the state will need some degree of political cooperation.

Illinois has balanced spending with revenues reason­ably well in recent years. Moreover, officials have taken measures to address the state's pension shortfall by issuing bonds to infuse money into the system. But the state still faces a significant budget shortfall that puts into question its ability to weather a recession or other emergency. Furthermore, the state has not had a capital budget in several years, and this may threaten federal matching funds.

--From the PewCenter on the State's Government Performance Project 2008

9:00 a.m.Opening remarks

9:10 a.m. Keynote address: Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes

10:00 a.m. Panel discussion: Priorities and Pressures Facing the IllinoisState Budget

Moderator: Beverly Bunch, Associate Professor, Center for State Policy and Leadership, University of Illinois at Springfield

Discussants:

· Linda Baker, Professor, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Southern Illinois University Carbondale and former secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services

· Fred Giertz, Professor of Economics, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

· Tom Johnson, President, Taxpayers Federation of Illinois and former director, Illinois Department of Revenue

· Mary Jo Waits, Project Director, PewCenter on the States and an expert on the state budgets across the nation

11:30 a.m. Presentation by the Office of the Illinois Governor (invited)

Noon - Lunch

12:30 p.m. Bonus session: Effective Lobbying by Nonprofit Organizations

This 45 minute session, hosted by the Donors Forum, and presented by Linda Renee Baker, is specifically designed for staff, board members and volunteers of nonprofit organizations that seek and rely on grant funding.

If you plan to attend the Bonus Session, please inform us of that upon registration.

Sponsored by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and the Donors Forum

Free to the public

Sign language interpreted

Senate Passes Budget Scheme to Close Deficit 

UPDATE:  Proposed Income Tax Constitutional Amendments