* Walmart is helping push back against threats by Amazon’s affiliates and others to pull out of Illinois if Gov. Quinn signs a controversial tax reform into law. From a press release…
Walmart today is issuing an open invitation to all of those Illinois online businesses – known as affiliates– to explore the opportunity to join Walmart.com’s Affiliate Network. This invitation comes as Amazon.com and Overstock.com threaten to terminate their relationships with all Illinois affiliates should H.B. 3659 (Main Street Fairness Act) be signed into law.
“We applaud and support the members of the General Assembly and Governor Quinn for their leadership in supporting this retail fairness legislation,” said Julie Murphy, Senior Vice President of Operations for Walmart “ This legislation will create a level playing field for online-only retailers and brick and mortar retailers”.
Walmart is committed to supporting the affiliate programs which help to drive Walmart.com’s online business. It currently partners with more than 45 Illinois based affiliates representing millions of dollars in revenue. Walmart will continue to collect and remit all sales taxes due on all Walmart.com sales to alleviate all regulatory burdens from its customers. Any affiliate interested in working with Walmart.com should visit www.affiliates.walmart.com.
Because online merchants don’t often have a physical presence in the state, the bill taxes them via affiliate marketers, like Storm’s FatWallet.
If Quinn signs the proposal into law, many retailers that do business with his website will terminate their contracts to avoid paying the tax, Storm said.
“I started (my business) in Wisconsin, but moved to Illinois because it is home,” said Storm, whose website is based in Rockton. “I can literally see Wisconsin from my window – it’s five miles away. If I have to move, I will.”
Scott Kluth, CEO of CouponCabin, joined Storm in urging a veto. Kluth’s website operates the same way as FatWallet. It employs 54.
Chicago is quickly becoming a U.S. hub for online coupon and deal companies, and the trend started long before wildly successful Groupon was even conceived. Today, the Chicago region is headquarters for dozens of coupon and deal websites.
Sites include some of America’s biggest, such as Groupon.com and CouponCabin.com. They include some of the oldest, such as FatWallet.com, circa 1999, and MrRebates.com, 2002. They include newbies started this year by a single person and another launched this year by one of the largest coupon companies in the world.
“Chicago is the cradle of civilization for the daily-deal industry,” said Dan Hess, chief executive of Local Offer Network and Chicago-based deal aggregator Dealradar.com. “It gained an early lead and continues to lead the pack.”
Among daily-deal group-buying sites, similar to Groupon, Chicago is the No. 1 city, with 43 such headquarters. That beats New York and San Francisco, according to Dealradar.com.
* That CouponCabin.com company is growing super fast. From a press release…
CouponCabin.com, a premier online coupon resource, marked two significant milestones in the first month of 2011: CouponCabin now features more than 150,000 coupons and deals for 3,000+ stores.
CouponCabin.com has enjoyed strong traffic in 2011, building off an extremely strong holiday shopping season. According to online research firm comScore, in November 2010, CouponCabin.com enjoyed a 400% increase in traffic over October with 8.8 million visitors, only 12% behind Groupon.com.
You can add Nevada to the list of states trying to come to steal business from Illinois.
The Nevada Development Authority is airing a TV ad all month trying to coax businesses here to go west. It’s the latest in a list of states actively trying to get businesses to bail out of the Land of Lincoln.
* The NDA focuses on recruiting business to the Las Vegas region. It’s pretty aggressive about personal and corporate income taxes, of which there are none in that state.
*** UPDATE *** The good folks at CBS2 helped me find the Illinois ad online. Watch…
* The Question: How is Illinois superior to Las Vegas?
* Gov. Pat Quinn reacted harshly to skepticism yesterday from a spokesman for the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District that Illinois can find the money to build a commuter rail line from the Van Buren Street Station to Balmoral Park racetrack. Quoth the spokesman…
“We still have difficulties understanding where they’re coming up with the startup funds, so we don’t know how this will impact us,” NICTD spokesman John Parsons said. “It might not.”
Quinn, while acknowledging that startup funds would not be set until the Illinois General Assembly gives him a capital bill to consider later this year, said he didn’t appreciate the attitude.
“I think Indiana would be better off taking more of a team approach and working with us,” the governor said. “I don’t think criticizing Illinois all the time is a good idea.”
When a University of Illinois student was denied admission to a dual-degree program last fall, her parents turned to their state legislator for help and sparked a series of events reminiscent of the admissions scandal that rocked the state’s flagship campus in 2009.
At the request of state Sen. Dan Duffy’s office, the university’s chief lobbyist in September sent a letter to admissions staff regarding the denial. Her office also followed up with a phone call a few weeks later. The inquiries were logged on a list that tracks when outside parties insert themselves into the admissions process, one of the post-scandal reforms.
Tribune reporter Jodi Cohen is pathetic. A frustrated SENIOR at U of I contacted my office. The student qualified for a double major and was not allowed to receive it. We contacted the Dept.of Higher Education per state policy. Cohen is now saying we were using “clout” and are part of “Admission Scandal”? Cohen never even bothered to interview me for her story before printing the manufactured nonsense!!
The Senator has apparently blocked me from accessing his FB site. He reportedly suggested in a caucus meeting the other day that no Senate Republicans should ever speak to me. Yes, he has quite the little temper. Anyway, a good friend sent me the quote and the screen shot…
“The big difference between Mr. Cappleman and me is that I’ve committed to spending $1.3 million dollars to put more police on our streets,” Phelan said, referring to discretionary funds alderman control. “Mr. Cappleman wants to spend it on decorator flower pots and benches.”
I wonder what she’ll say when shown this letter to the editor by Mr. Cappleman…
One cost-saving measure would be to curtail costly and aggressive medical treatment for patients near death.
Medicare costs have to be controlled. Maybe using the skills of ethicists in providing direction on cutting health-care costs would be an answer to this moral dilemma.
Death panels!!!
* Trouble in paradise? Rep. Lou Lang usually carries the gaming expansion bill in the House, while Sen. Terry Link handles the duties in the Senate. Lang’s latest bill just includes more slots, no new casinos. Link is already turning thumbs down…
Lang will begin talks on his plan in the House. In the Senate, Sen. Terry Link of Waukegan typically sponsors gambling-expansion plans.
And the plans Link carries typically include new casinos, including one in Lake County.
“I don’t think he’s going to have any support from the industry,” Link said of Lang’s plan.
* The SJ-R editorial today is pretty harsh on those who’ve been hollering about Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s opinion that the names of FOID card holders should be made public…
We’re accustomed to gun rights advocates being vocal, rigid and determined in their pursuit of what they believe are their Second Amendment rights. We are not deaf to their concerns. In fact, we recently have called for Illinois to adopt a law defining the right of FOID holders to carry concealed firearms.
But this is not a gun ownership issue and the negative reaction to last week’s ruling has been nothing short of hysteria. This decision is about open government and preventing a government body, in this case the Illinois State Police, from keeping secret information it gathers on the public’s behalf.
That business about the dangers of releasing public records is a stretch, though. Gun enthusiasts, lobbyists and some lawmakers are waving their arms, warning that if the FOID records are released, bad guys will use them to determine which houses can be safely burglarized because their occupants don’t have guns. Or they’ll use them to determine which houses are occupied by permit holders so they can break in and steal those guns.
Those arguments came up in Florida, too, though nobody could name a time when anything like that actually happened. But never mind. Sooner or later someone’s bound to get hurt, the gun crowd says, and when it happens, it will be Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s fault for telling the ISP to hand over the records.
What a crock. Their quarrel is with the public records law, not the attorney general.
* Gov. Pat Quinn signed a new redistricting reform bill into law yesterday. The signing ceremony was held in Chinatown, which got the most focus at the presser…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Monday that is designed to protect minority voting rights.
The governor says the law will prevent a community’s political make-up from being weakened by dividing into multiple voting districts.
Chinatown is one such community. It is currently divided into four parts of city wards and three state senate districts.
But Asian-American populations are much higher in a few other Senate districts on the North Side and the North Shore. Asian-American’s make up 19.4 percent of Sen. Ira Silverstein’s 8th Senate District and 11.7 percent of Sen. Heather Steans’ district, which is directly East. The 9th Senate District is straight North of Steans and is represented by Sen. Jeff Schoenberg. It’s Asian-American population is 8.9 percent. All of those have higher percentages of Asian-Americans than any of the Chinatown districts. There are also some big numbers in the collars as well.
The bill provides that during the redistricting process political territories “shall be drawn to create crossover districts, coalition districts, or influence districts.” Here’s how the legislation defines those three areas:
* A crossover district is one where “a racial minority or language minority constitutes less than a majority of the voting-age population but where this minority, at least potentially, is large enough to elect the candidate of its choice with help from voters who are members of the majority and who cross over to support the minority’s preferred candidate.”
* A coalition district means a district where “more than one group of racial minorities or language minorities may form a coalition to elect the candidate of the coalition’s choice.”
* And an influence district is one “where a racial minority or language minority can influence the outcome of an election even if its preferred candidate cannot be elected.”
Chinatown would be located in a new “influence district.” It’s very possible that new North Side “influence districts” would be drawn as well. Koreans, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. abound in those parts. Silverstein’s district is my favorite area of Chicago, by the way. You want diversity? Go there. Walk a block and you’re in another country. Walk another block and you’re in another continent. I love it.
“One of the purposes of the law is to make sure that our racial minorities, our language minorities, citizens who live in a particular area, get a fair chance to elect a person of their choice,” [Gov. Pat Quinn] said.
The federal Voting Rights Act requires map drawers to give special protection to districts that contain mostly minorities. The state law aims to also protect the interest of minorities — defined by race or those who speak the same language — who might make up less than 50 percent a district.
According to the state’s Constitution, districts must be “compact, contiguous and substantially equal in population.” The contiguous requirement should be easy to follow, according to political scientist Chris Mooney, but in order to keep populations of a certain ethnicity in the same districts, the districts could end up looking like an octopus.
“Districts look, they have looked pretty weird for various reasons — political reasons and trying to develop demographics profiles in particular,” said Mooney, a professor of political studies with the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “But there’s only so much you can do given how many people live where and who they are.”
Population bloomed in Kendall County by more than 25 percent during the past 10 years. Its Hispanic numbers grew, though that demographic still makes up a small percentage of the total population, according to Kendall County Democratic Party Chair Chuck Sutcliff. To group enough Hispanics together so they could have a significant impact on elections would take creative map drawing, Sutcliff said.
“It would have to be a strange, strange, (district.) Of course in redistricting the possibility of a strange looking representative area isn’t unusual. There have always been those kinds of unusual strange ties of one population to another,” he said.
And that’s the rub, according to Mooney. There are so many facets to redistricting that one issue might dominate in one district while several issues might go into forming another.
“There are many things that people want to see in districts. The problem is that they sometimes conflict with one another and the ones that are the least required by law and least clear cut, like compactness, those suffer,” Mooney said.
All true. Plus, there are things like where to put that Chinatown “influence.” Does it go in a black or a Latino district? Considering low voter turnout among Latinos, Chinatown might have more influence in their district. But Latinos might not want to take the risk of losing a seat.
* Another problem with the new law is that reformers were upset with the “transparency” provisions. The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform sums it up…
The new law calls on lawmakers to hold a mere four public hearings in the state before they can pass a map dictating the borders for the Illinois House and Senate districts.
The bill doesn’t mandate that lawmakers share maps of those new districts – which will stand for the next 10 years, until after next Census – before they pass them, nor does it create opportunities for the public to involve themselves directly in the boundary-drawing process.
But as the legislation’s Democratic sponsors explained to us during debates on this measure in the Capitol, there’s nothing to prevent either lawmakers (or the governor) for going above and beyond the disappointing minimums that SB 3976 establishes.
* Related…
* WGN: Gov. Quinn signs redistricting legislation in Chinatown
* Press Release: Governor Quinn Signs Major Redistricting Reforms - New Law Protects Minority Community Voting Rights; Increases Openness and Transparency in Redistricting Process
* VIDEO: Quinn On The Illinois Voting Rights Act of 2011
As part of our efforts to modernize and reform Illinois’ tax code, we should broaden our tax base in order to lower tax rates and create a fair system for all.
Yesterday, as part of a speech to the City Club of Chicago, I gave a state revenue presentation. One of many points made is that our income tax is unique because unlike other states we have a very large exemption for retirement income. Of the states with income taxes, Illinois is one of two that doesn’t tax any retirement income. Putting aside politics for a moment, I noted that if this exemption didn’t exist, it would mean an additional $1.6 billion in the state treasury.
I’m fully aware of the difficult politics of taxation. The only context in which such a policy could become reality would be if there was widespread bipartisan support, key protections for low-income retirees, and that the additional revenue would be used to lower overall taxes.
There is no formal proposal to advance.
In other words, fuhgetaboutit.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* I kinda get the feeling that Senate President John Cullerton didn’t expect such a huge media reaction to his trial balloon yesterday about taxing retirement income. Look at how he zig-zagged after he made his original comments…
Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said he would exclude Social Security income and avoid targeting those lower-income seniors who “don’t have much of a retirement income.”
Cullerton’s trial balloon would affect retirement income for those under 65. And in a late-afternoon committee hearing in Springfield, Cullerton suggested applying the retirement tax to those seniors making $100,000 or more.
“If the Republicans want to talk about tax reform, which will be revenue neutral, I’m all in. If they want to talk about, perhaps, taxing some of that retirement income — maybe tax retirement income up to age 65 — if we want to expand the tax base and sales taxes [as Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has proposed] — we can do that, then lower overall rates. I’m all in favor of that. That would be tax reform,” Cullerton said following a speech to the City Club.
Exclude Social Security, avoid taxing low-income seniors, then maybe tax seniors who earn more than $100K a year. He’s pretty much all over the place.
In 2008, Illinois taxpayers received $37.3 billion in retirement income, including pensions, retirement annuities and Social Security, according to the nonpartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. If taxed at 5 percent, that amount of retirement income would generate $1.9 billion. That figure would drop to $1.5 billion if Social Security income is not taxed, the commission’s calculations showed.
Revenues would drop dramatically if only the highest retirement incomes were taxed. For example, imposing the tax on everything over $50,000 in pension income would generate an additional $276 million. Taxing everything over $100,000 in pension income would raise just $70 million, said Sue Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue. [Emphasis added.]
Murphy and Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, said they are concerned that additional taxes would force high-income seniors to flee to Florida, which does not have an income tax. They said an exodus of retirees would be costly to Illinois because the state would lose sales tax revenue as people spend money in other states.
Bob Gallo, senior state director for AARP Illinois, said the state cannot in good conscience ask seniors to pay more when it is cutting services for the elderly.
* Gov. Pat Quinn was not so blunt. Instead, he rambled…
“I think it’s important that we always be open to reviewing the tax code. Matter of fact, I proposed in my budget address that we have a commission in Illinois that’s focused on fairness and economic growth, and looking at our tax code, that promotes fairness to everyday taxpayers and also economic growth for all of us, so I think everything should be looked at,” Quinn told reporters. “How we go about it is obviously something we have to work together on.”
Among the 41 states with a broad-based income tax, 36 offer exclusions for some or all specifically identified state or federal pension income or both,, a retirement income exclusion, or a tax credit targeted at the elderly…. The five states that offer none of these are California, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont. …
The states that offer an exclusion for all state and local government pension income are Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania….
The District of Columbia and 27 states with income taxes provide a full exclusion for Social Security benefits (the list includes Illinois) …. The remaining 15 states with broad-based income taxes tax Social Security to some extent.
Ten states exclude all federal, state and local pension income from taxation – Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania….
These 10 states differ on the taxation of retirement income from private-sector sources. … Illinois and Mississippi exclude income from qualified retirement plans.
* Also, for the second time in a week, Gov. Quinn said he hadn’t yet read the Senate Democratic analysis of pension law which claims that it’s unconstitutional to reduce pension benefits for current workers. He did seem to say that he’s open to some changes, as long as they’re legal. Listen…
* Brady worried state not yet ready to escape recession: “They increased the income tax and that takes away about one week’s pay from everyone in addition to what they were already taking,” he said. “Much of that money is going to bond and interest payments to investors who aren’t in Illinois.”
* Illinois preparing to comply with national health care reform
* Daily Show correspondent John Oliver filed a dispatch last night from a “savage territory” and “corrupt wasteland” which will be familiar to all of us…
The premise of the sketch was that Oliver was in a place called “Ill-in-o-is, a desolate lawless region,” and his “reporting” was in the style of a war correspondent who had found himself in a strange and dangerous land.
After doing such things as treating a fast food takeout window as if it was a military checkpoint, Oliver revealed that he’d “arranged a meeting with a notorious former warlord” because “apparently no one knows the region better than him.”
* Walker scoffs at Democratic senators’ attempt to meet, negotiate - Legislators deny governor’s claims that they are divided, want to return to Wisconsin
* Fines fail to faze exiled Indiana Democrats: Over in Illinois, the giant television satellite trucks that marked the Democrats’ arrival and sat in the Comfort Suites parking lot for several days in late February were gone Monday. So, too, were most of the media who for days had juggled laptops, cell phones and notebooks in their temporary office of the hotel lobby.
