CTBA experts are available to provide insight, analysis, and data to the press on a wide range of public policy issues. In addition, CTBA disseminates new research and timely updates on policy developments to the media.
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- Policy analysis and advocacy
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Why is the state of Illinois is such bad economic shape, getting worse all the time?
Because, according to Ralph Martire, the Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (a non-partisan organization, that is, supported by and responsible to both political parties) we have an outdated and perverse tax system which can never provide the revenue needed for us to have a healthy economy.
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Pioneer Press - Franklin Park and Northlake, “School funding bill makes local superintendents nervous,” Martire said first the state has to get its own financial affairs in order.
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A split over the future of the temporary income tax increase provides one of the starkest differences between Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican Bruce Rauner in the 2014 campaign for governor. Quinn believes the income tax increase should be made permanent. Rauner thinks income tax rates should be rolled back to their pre-tax hike levels — eventually. But the fate of the income tax increase isn’t the only tax issue raised by the two this year.
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A new poll shows incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn leading Republican candidate Bruce Rauner by 3 percentage points, the first time Quinn has led Rauner since the March primaries, and in the 17 polls since then.
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University of Illinois officials last week said that a higher percentage of students accepted at the U. of I. are deciding to go elsewhere because financial aid is insufficient. It’s another sign that Illinois’ continuous cuts are gradually eroding the state’s higher education system.
If you adjust for inflation, Illinois’ investment in higher education has been cut by 40 percent since 2000, according to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. The share of costs borne by the state has dropped from nearly half a decade ago to less than 15 percent. To keep universities afloat, tuition has soared. State funding has dropped so much that people joke we no longer have state universities, just universities in the state.
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Point/Counterpoint
Is the proposed "Millionaires Tax" a good or bad idea? Read what Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Michael Lucci of the Illinois Policy Institute have to say about it.
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**From today’s debate…
Rauner was asked whether he was asking voters to take his budget and educations plans on faith since his plans to freeze property taxes and reduce income taxes so far don’t appear to add up.
“We have the money for our schools, if we put it in the schools,” Rauner began, before he was asked to come off of talking points and make his promises add up.
“We close corporate welfare loopholes, we reform our tax code, we cut wasteful spending, we put in regulatory changes to grow the economy,” Rauner offered as ways to balance the budget.
** Um, no. Unless he wants to raise taxes even higher than they are now. From the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability…....
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Over recent years, the Chicago Housing Authority has built up large cash reserves primarily by holding onto millions in federal funds intended for housing vouchers, shows a recent report by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. Progress Illinois takes a look at the report's findings and gets reaction from affordable housing advocates.
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“The state is facing real fiscal issues,” said Amanda Kass, budget director and pension specialist at the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “But there are real opportunities here to address the state’s structural deficit.”
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For nearly 10 years, the CHA has taken in more federal money than it has spent, piling up a reserve of $432 million in 2012, according to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a local think tank. The CHA says it’s down to $355 million.