* Center Square…
The average Illinois household will continue paying significantly more each year in higher state and local taxes implemented after Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office, even with proposed tax cuts from Democrats at the statehouse, an analysis finds.
The report from the Illinois Policy Institute examines the state’s budget approved Saturday, which includes temporary tax savings amounting to about $556 per family, on average.
The tax breaks would come from a property tax rebate of up to $300, a one-year suspension of the state’s grocery tax coming out to an average of about $56, and a $200 low-income family tax credit. Pritzker also plans to suspend the state’s gas tax increase tied to inflation, though IPI says that provides no tax relief. The gas tax provision only delays for six months a scheduled 2.2 cents a gallon gas tax increase that hasn’t kicked in yet.
The report shows that Illinois families have paid a total of $2,721 in higher taxes since Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s 24 tax-and-fee hikes were implemented in 2019.
That breaks down to the average Illinois household paying roughly $680 more each year from 2019 to 2022 towards higher state and local gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, parking garage taxes, and online sales tax, the report shows.
Um, that $680 per family, per year includes the parking garage tax? C’mon. Remove the $270 a year garage tax misleadingly included in that $680 per year in increased taxes and you wind up with $410 per year, per household; which means that the average family is coming out ahead with an overall $556 break this year. Also, not paying a legally scheduled tax hike for six months is indeed a tax savings. It should’ve been included.
The $680 total, by the way, also includes expanding the sales tax to online purchases, which is just common sense and helps local brick and mortar businesses even the playing field.
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Weekly COVID-19 update
Friday, Apr 15, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Cases are up by 30 percent, but are still low. Hospitalizations, a lagging indicator, are down 7.6 percent. ICU and ventilator usage are up, but the overall numbers are small. Daily vaccine average is about the same. Deaths are down 37 percent, but, again, the overall numbers are small. Here’s IDPH…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 14,049 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 45 deaths since April 8, 2022.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 3,094,485 cases, including 33,510 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the beginning of the pandemic. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
As of last night, 464 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 70 patients were in the ICU and 32 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. The preliminary seven-day statewide case rate is 110 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Illinoisans.
A total of 21,648,058 vaccines have been administered in Illinois. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 19,799 doses. Since April 8, 2022, 138,595 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 76% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, more than 68% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 50% is boosted according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data indicates that the risk of hospitalization and severe outcomes from COVID-19 is much higher for unvaccinated people than for those who are up to date on their vaccinations.
On April 12, IDPH announced it is using new federal guidelines for tracking COVID-19 at the community level. The new CDC guidelines emphasize the case rate and hospitalizations in order to better track the impact of COVID-19 in communities. In addition, as a result of HHS announcing that testing providers are no longer required to report some negative test results, IDPH will no longer know how many tests are being done and will therefore no longer report test and case positivity.
All data are provisional and are subject to change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19.html.
I’m shutting down relatively soon, so comments are closed.
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Campaign notebook
Friday, Apr 15, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Pre-Easter campaign mailer…
That’s… quite something.
* In the midst of yet another very long rebuttal of the mail/TV/text attack ads on him by Richard Irvin, Sen. Darren Bailey said this today…
I mean, friends, this is absolutely disgusting. And this man, Richard Irvin, and his lieutenant governor candidate Avery Bourne, if they’re going to be so bold as to say things like this now, can you imagine what things are going to be like if they get into office? Which we don’t have to worry about that.
Bailey is doing a lot of explaining in long videos that are only viewed by a super-tiny fraction of the GOP voting base. And since he’s not pushing back in his own mail/TV/text advertising, he’s not reaching the people who are forming unrebutted views of him.
Bailey does claim to have a large ground game…
I know you’re getting concerned and frustrated. But this is what a grassroots movement does. We educate, we inform, we get out. Last night, up in Buffalo Grove, the friends that were up there, there’s hundreds of people walking. And I think over 2000 doors and phone calls have been, doors had been knocked on and flyers had been left over the course of the last week.
Lit drops aren’t very effective. And if he has “hundreds” of walkers, his campaign would have made a whole lot more contacts than that. He’d better hope the DGA ad program works.
* Speaker Welch…
Following a legislative session with a fourth consecutive balanced budget, funding for Illinois youth, and economic relief for Illinois families, House Democrats are also celebrating a strong quarter of fundraising in which they are poised to outraise all other legislative leaders and Illinois caucuses.
While adjusting to new state ethics laws, House Democrats reported raising over $1.3 million during the first quarter of 2022. Speaker Welch raised $139,900.00 for Democrats for the Illinois House, while The People for Emanuel “Chris” Welch raised $1,177,275.00.
Funds raised will be used in the 2022 primary and general elections. As the first African-American Speaker of the House, Welch says funds will be used to continue to shape Illinois into a great state to raise a family where the government is inclusive and works for the people.
“Democrats in the House have come together like we’ve never seen to get things done for Illinois families,” said Welch. “Our supporters see that. You can see it in the legislation we pass focusing on the people, and how we come together to get things done. We are going to build on that momentum by electing more Democrats to the House. We are the party working to serve Illinoisans. I am extremely proud of our fundraising efforts, and I’m thankful to the supporters who believe in our work. We have a lot more work ahead.”
In addition to the totals raised, individual members have also had a successful fundraising quarter with the support of the house democratic caucus fundraising team.
* DPI…
Today, the Democratic Party of Illinois announced it raised a total of $712,676.30 in the first quarter of 2022 and ended the quarter with a total of $4,246,889.46 on hand. Total fundraising included $362,296.56 in federal fundraising and $350,379.74 in non-federal fundraising, including contributions from nearly 750 unique donors, and marked the strongest fundraising quarter for the DPI under the leadership of Chair Robin Kelly.
“Our strong fundraising performance is a reflection of the enthusiasm from Democrats across Illinois in the DPI and its work,” said Abby Witt, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois. “As campaign season ramps up, we are well resourced to execute Chair Kelly’s vision of a party that provides the foundation for successful Democratic campaigns up and down the ticket in 2022 and beyond.”
* Rochford…
Today, the Judge Rochford for Supreme Court campaign announced it will report raising over $137,000 in the first quarter of 2022, bringing the total raised from the launch of the campaign through the end of March to nearly $400,000. Since the start of this race, Judge Rochford’s campaign has outraised the nearest opponent by more than $170,000. Driven by Judge Rochford’s exceptional credentials and deep judicial experience, the campaign has the momentum in this race after receiving numerous key endorsements and with strong support from a coalition of legal professionals, organized labor, elected officials, and small dollar individual donors from across the district.
The campaign has already raised more than $100,000 in the first two weeks of the second quarter following an event hosted by major labor organizations on April 12th. The event was hosted by the Illinois AFL-CIO, UFCW Local 881, Illinois Pipetrades Association, IUOE Local 399, and Plumbers Local 130, among others.
* More…
* Democratic ward orgs — mostly headed by aldermen — see infusion of Pritzker donations ahead of June Primary Election: More than a dozen aldermen who also serve as Democratic committeepeople saw a cash infusion from Gov. JB Pritzker during the first three months of this year. Several Chicago aldermen who also serve as their ward’s Democratic committeeperson saw donations ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 from Gov. JB Pritzker during the first quarter of this year.
* Jonathan Jackson endorsed by Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia in race to replace Bobby Rush: Jackson, the Chicago-based national spokesman for Rainbow PUSH and the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, was joined by Gacia (D-Illinois 14), who enthusiastically gave his support to the candidate. “I proudly stand with Jonathan Jackson and throw my wholehearted support and endorsement to his effort to become the next congressman of the First District,” Garcia said.
* Republicans in 13th Congressional District face off in Springfield forum: [Terry Martin], a journalist-turned-politician who covered Congress and Illinois state government, said he could no longer sit on the sidelines. “What I couldn’t do is stay neutral because I was becoming just so utterly frustrated at the upside down world we live in,” Martin said. “We’re told to wear masks and yet we can have the border open.”
* FBI acquires transcript of Michael Madigan deposition and the ex-speaker answering questions under oath in civil case
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* Politico…
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch shared some insight about how he came to be elected speaker in January 2021. It started about six months earlier in the summer of 2020.
Welch got a call one day from Rep. Robyn Gabel. “She said, ‘I’m working on something, and I’ll give you a call about it later. ‘Just behave, OK?’ And I thought, `What the hell is she talking about?’”
Welch told the story at a small fundraising event on his behalf last night sponsored by Illinois Environmental Council, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups.
Gabel did call back, he continued. “And she said, ‘I think you’re going to be the next speaker.’ I told her she was nuts.” Though he acknowledged later that Rep. Will Guzzardi had suggested the idea, too.
Then January came, and Michael Madigan didn’t have the votes to hold the reins to the speakership. “And it happened,” Welch told the group. “Robyn saw something in me before I saw it. And how often does that happen in your life?” […]
“It’s something that we had been thinking about for a few years,” Gabel said, referring to her and other Democratic allies thinking about who the next speaker would be. “We knew Madigan wouldn’t be around forever one way or another. So I looked around at who I thought would be a good speaker. To me it was important for the speaker to come from the Black Caucus. I watched [Chris] as he got up to speed in Springfield. I liked that he supported women’s issues, which was important to me. So I thought it’s Chris.”
Pretty good story. I’ve known “Able Gabel” forever, even before she was in the House. She’s good at her job and has served Welch well in leadership.
Also, Rep. Guzzardi is a pretty strong head-counter. He knew, for instance, that his minimum wage increase bill was going to pass in 2017 even though Speaker Madigan thought it would fail. He was also the first to tell me that he believed the votes were there to override a Bruce Rauner veto of an income tax hike.
Hmm. I must be in a good mood because of the upcoming holiday.
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* John McCormick at the Wall St. Journal interviewed the state’s wealthiest resident Ken Griffin…
Asked about running for office, Mr. Griffin said his plate is currently full. “I would like to think that at some point in my life, I will have that opportunity to be involved in public service,” he said. […]
Besides his investments in federal elections, Mr. Griffin is also expected to spend heavily this year to try to block a fellow billionaire, Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, from winning a second term. He has already contributed $20 million to the campaign of Richard Irvin, a Republican mayor of a Chicago suburb.
Mr. Griffin and Mr. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and the brother of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, have had a running feud in recent years, lately over with rising violence in Chicago.
“I’ve had multiple colleagues mugged at gunpoint. I’ve had a colleague stabbed on the way to work,” Mr. Griffin said of Chicago. “That’s a really difficult backdrop with which to draw talent to your city.”
Discuss.
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Open thread
Friday, Apr 15, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Happy Good Friday. My subscriber email out-of-office bouncebacks were quite voluminous this morning, which is a reliable indicator that lots of people have already checked out for the weekend. I’ll probably put in a half-day or so. In the meantime, what’s on your mind today?
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