* From the governor’s campaign…
Reporters-
Attached are the state and federal tax return summaries for JB and MK Pritzker for 2019.
With the Fair Tax in place, JB and MK Pritzker and trusts benefitting JB Pritzker would have paid approximately $10.5 million in Illinois taxes, an additional $3.7 million over what was due this year.
According to the information provided by the trustees, in 2019, trusts benefitting JB Pritzker paid $6.7 million in Illinois taxes at a rate of 6.45% and $33 million in federal taxes.
JB and MK Pritzker made $1.1 million in personal charitable donations last year.
They never disclose their trust income tax returns, just summaries of their personal returns. Click here.
…Adding… Tribune…
The records show the Pritzker and his wife, M.K., had $2.4 million in state taxable income in 2019, down from nearly $4.4 million in 2018 and nearly $55 million in 2017. The Pritzkers personally owed $118,255 in state taxes and $419,853 to the federal government in 2018, according to their returns.
But the top pages of the federal and state tax returns released by the campaign don’t paint a full picture of the couple’s vast wealth, much of which is held in domestic and offshore trusts. The trusts benefiting J.B. Pritzker, many of which were set up in the Bahamas by his grandfather, paid $6.7 million in Illinois taxes at a rate of 6.45% and $33 million in federal taxes in 2019, according to the governor’s campaign. […]
The governor also has said the rules governing his family trusts don’t permit them to be placed in a blind trust. He pledged to relinquish any decision-making power in those trusts, which he has not identified by name or location, and has said he doesn’t receive reports on their performance.
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* US Rep. Mike Bost was recently on Will Stephens’ radio show and was asked, “Even with all of these folks wired up and wandering around the Capitol Building, is Mike Madigan insulated enough that he’s going to remain unscathed?” Bost’s response…
That’s a good question. Believe me, Mike Madigan is, if anybody could remain unscathed, it will be Mike Madigan. Because he’s an expert of the Illinois Constitution and an expert of the Illinois law because he wrote most of it. He also knows where the line is going up to the edge of the cliff. And he might not, and he won’t step over the line on the edge of the cliff. He might grab someone else and throw them over to get his [garbled] done. But he won’t do that.
This part is nonsense, however…
Now, let me tell you that there is a precedent, though, that quite often that someone who didn’t do something can still be charged on the fact that they were, there is a presumption that they knew. The best example of that was a guy by the name of George Ryan. They never got George Ryan for doing anything himself.
Yes, they did…
The investigation finally reached the former governor, and in December 2003, Ryan and lobbyist Lawrence Warner were named in a 22-count federal indictment. The charges included racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud. The indictment alleged that Ryan steered several state contracts to Warner and other friends; disbursed campaign funds to relatives and to pay personal expenses; and obstructed justice by attempting to end the state investigation of the license-for-bribes scandal. He was charged with lying to investigators and accepting cash, gifts and loans in return for his official actions as governor. On September 19, 2005, the case went to trial. […]
On April 17, 2006, the jury found Ryan and Warner guilty on all counts. However, when ruling on post-trial motions, the judge dismissed two counts against Ryan for lack of proof.
Also, the judge dismissed one of those counts because, she said, prosecutors had failed to prove that Ryan knew of a particular fraud when he steered a lease to his pal Warner.
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* These are the worst numbers in a long time. You have to go back to June 14 to see hospitalization numbers like this. Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 4,015 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 53 additional confirmed deaths. On September 4, 2020, IDPH reported 5,368 new cases of COVID-19 after a slowdown in data processing delayed reporting of some additional aggregate numbers. Cases not reported in the previous several days were included in the September 4, 2020 total. The slowdown did not affect the reporting of positive or negative results to individuals in any way.
Adams County: 1 female 80s
Bureau County: 1 male 70s
Carroll County: 1 female 70s
Champaign County: 1 female 60s
Christian County: 1 female 60s
Clark County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Clay County: 1 male 70s, 2 females 80
Cook County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 3 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 males 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Fayette County: 1 male 80s
Jackson County: 1 female 70s
Jefferson County: 1 female 90s
Kane County: 2 males 80s
Kendall County: 1 male 60s
Knox County: 1 male 20s
Lawrence County: 1 male 80s
Marion County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
McLean County: 1 male 60s
Moultrie County: 1 male 70s
Peoria County: 1 female 90s
Richland County: 1 female 60s
Rock Island County: 1 female 70s
Saline County: 1 female 70s
Shelby County: 1 male 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 80s
Tazewell County: 1 female 70s
Wabash County: 1 female 60s
Wayne County: 1 male 70s
Will County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Winnebago County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 331,620 cases, including 9,127 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 9 – October 15 is 4.9%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 67,086 specimens for a total of 6,531,009. As of last night, 1,932 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 388 patients were in the ICU and 147 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Starting today, IDPH is including both molecular and antigen tests in the number of statewide total test performed in Illinois. Previously, due to the limited number of antigen tests and limited information about antigen test accuracy, antigen tests were not included in the total number (which comprised less than 1% of total tests performed). Antigen tests, like BinaxNOW™, are now becoming more readily available, therefore, IDPH will include both molecular and antigen tests in its total number of tests starting October 15, 2020.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for a death previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
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* From a statewide poll conducted for Empower Illinois…
Q. As you may know, Governor JB Pritzker has restricted high school contact sports like football, soccer and volleyball from returning this fall citing the advice of medical professionals. Do you support or oppose the governor’s decision?
Support the governor’s restrictions on high school contact sports 55%
Believe we should restrict all high school sports 7%
Oppose restricting any high school sports 31%
Unsure 7%
With all the media uproar, you’d think the opposition would be higher. Nope.
* More poll results…
Q. Which comes closer to your view about where Illinois stands in the Coronavirus pandemic?
Worst is behind us 31%
Worst is yet to come 35%
Don’t know 34%
Q. Thinking about you, personally, has the Coronavirus outbreak had a major impact, minor impact, or no real impact on your own daily life?
Major impact 47%
Minor impact 36%
No impact 14%
Unsure 2%
Q. In general, would you say that you are more concerned about the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic – that is, the effect on the economy, unemployment and the stock market, or are you more concerned about the public health impact – that is, the spread of the disease and additional deaths.
Economic Impact 36%
Public health impact 54%
‘Unsure 9%
Q. Which of the following best describes your current work status as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic?
You are continuing to work like you did before 30%
You are continuing to work, but doing it remotely or from home 18%
You are continuing to work, but your hours and/or pay have been reduced 9%
You have been laid off, furloughed or unable to work because of the pandemic 11%
You were not working or were retired prior to the outbreak 31%
Q. Do you believe that your local elected officials understand the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on you personally?
Completely understand 22%
Somewhat understand 33%
Don’t really understand 18%
Don’t understand at all 18%
Unsure 8%
The pollster then asked questions of small subsets, so click here for the rest.
* Methodology…
This poll was conducted by We Ask America between September 27th and 29th, 2020 using a blend of automated calls to landlines and live-operator calls to cell phones. In all, 800 interviews were achieved among registered voters in Illinois. 400 of these responses came from cell phones. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.46% at a Confidence Interval of 95%.
Registered voters were surveyed.
* Related…
* Chicago is weighing whether to reopen schools. Can it move forward without the consent of its teachers? Chicago schools officials have met regularly with the Chicago Teachers Union representatives, but they haven’t agreed on a road map or even on the need for one.
* 30 Decatur teachers reprimanded for not following remote learning grading guidelines
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* ABC…
The Labor Department said Thursday that another 898,000 people filed jobless claims last week, highlighting how new layoffs are persisting at historical highs more than six months since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week’s initial unemployment claims tally also shows a concerning spike of more than 53,000 compared to the previous week’s revised figure.
The government also said the total number of people claiming state and federal unemployment benefits topped 25.2 million for the week ending Sept. 26. In comparison, 1.4 million people claimed benefits for the same week last year.
The level of new weekly unemployment claims has stagnated near the 850,000 mark for the past few weeks, a significant drop from when they peaked at 6.9 million in the last week of March. For context, the previous record for weekly unemployment claims was 695,000 in 1982 — a record that has been shattered for 30 straight weeks in 2020.
The DOL said the states that saw the largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Oct. 3 were Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts. New Jersey, Kansas and Pennsylvania saw the largest decreases during that same time.
* The Illinois numbers are downright grim…
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 46,072 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Oct. 8 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]
There were 36,267 new unemployment claims filed across the state the week of Sept. 28.
IDES reported 27,384 new unemployment claims across the state during the week of Sept. 7.
There were 25,478 new unemployment claims filed across the state the week of Aug. 31.
That’s an 81 percent increase since the week of Aug. 31.
* Related…
* IDES fraud targets government workers, garnishments possible
* Some Illinois PUA unemployment recipients told to pay back thousands of dollars to IDES in alleged over-payment
* Funeral Home Owner Says Hard Credit Check Followed Fraudulent Illinois Unemployment Claim
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* Press release…
State Representative David Allen Welter (R-Morris) issued the following statement today after testing positive for COVID-19:
“I want to let my constituents know that I tested positive for COVID-19 last night. I am experiencing mild symptoms and visited Morris Hospital to be checked out. I have already begun following up with people I have been in contact with in recent days to notify them of my positive test. I take COVID-19 seriously, as we all should, and will quarantine for 14 days as recommended by the CDC. I would like to express my thanks to the Morris Hospital staff and all our frontline health care workers for their exceptional care during this pandemic. They are truly our local heroes.”
Representative Welter represents the 75th District, which includes portions of Grundy, Kendall, LaSalle and Will Counties.
* Decatur Herald & Review…
Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe announced Thursday morning that she has tested positive for COVID-19.
Moore Wolfe made the announcement during her daily coronavirus update interview on Byers & Co. on WSOY-AM.
“I did test positive for COVID,” Moore Wolfe said, adding she got the positive test result Wednesday afternoon.
“We are in quarantine in our house and hopefully we haven’t been spreading it,” Moore Wolfe said, adding a second family member also has tested positive.
Best wishes to both for a quick and full recovery.
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* Good stuff here…
Net out-migration also declined after the income tax was raised in 2017.
* More…
Anyway, click here and scroll down to find the link to the full report.
* Meanwhile, the Illinois Farm Bureau has been a major opponent of the proposed graduated income tax. But here’s more from the CTBA…
61,398 farms, or 84.5% of total farms in Illinois, are considered sole proprietor farms. Of the sole proprietor farms, only 64% of those farms realized a profit. The remaining 36% of sole proprietor farms realized a loss and farms that realized losses would not owe taxes, as seen in Figure 3.
For a sole proprietor farm with a profit, the average profit was $94,084 per farm.
In Illinois, about 20% of sole proprietor farms share farm profits and losses among 2 or more households.[ix] This is important because it means that even when an average sole proprietor farm realizes a profit of $94,084, that profit could be shared, and each household would actually realize a profit that is less than the total farm profit.
In order to conservatively estimate how the Fair Tax compares to the current flat tax, we chose to assume that the sole proprietor farms are operating with one owner and profit per farm is not shared among multiple owners.
The average profitable sole proprietor farm would experience about $64 in tax relief and an effective tax rate of 4.88% […]
4,597 farms, or 6.3% of farms in Illinois, are considered small businesses, displayed in Figure 5. This means these 4,597 farms pay individual income taxes on the profits for each individual owner‘s share of said profits. […]
The average profit for a small business farms was $224,926 per farm. […]
The average small business farm with a profit would experience about $65 in tax relief and an effective tax rate of 4.92%
Just 5.5 percent of farms are categorized as corporate farms, and they have an average profit of $287,212 per farm, meaning the average corporate farm would pay $2,843 more in taxes.
Bottom line: The opposition to the graduated income tax among farmers, like the opposition as a whole, is being driven by a small handful of upper-income folks.
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Kidwell on Madigan
Thursday, Oct 15, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The BGA’s investigative reporter David Kidwell was interviewed by the Corporate Crime Reporter…
Q: A friend who knows national politics, when I told him that Madigan was implicated in this Commonwealth Edison deferred prosecution, he said – Madigan is too smart and too careful to get caught in this kind of thing. Is that some kind of consensus politically in Illinois – he’s too careful to get caught at something like this?
A: “Absolutely. Mike Madigan doesn’t use email. He doesn’t text. I don’t want to be unfair to him. He’s an incredibly smart guy. He holds court in his office. He slices an apple while he’s listening to these things. He sends out what we call Madigan’s minions. All of the people implicated in this are people who used to be lawmakers who were mentored by Madigan and installed in large measure by Madigan. They are now lobbyists, many of them lobbyists for Commonwealth Edison. These connections and layers were built over decades.”
“The feds are probably not going to catch him on the telephone. They tried. They are not going to be able to document his electronic communications because he doesn’t have any.”
“This is all speculation, but I’m guessing they are trying to build a case with insiders. They are squeezing people – people like Mike McClain and Mike Zelewski. These are former politicians, long time Madigan allies, and Commonwealth Edison lobbyists.” […]
Q: Were these lobbyists wearing a wire inside Madigan’s office?
A: “We don’t know that. I don’t even know for sure who they have flipped, if anybody. We do know that they are squeezing people. They are issuing subpoenas and raiding offices of the people in Madigan’s orbit. How far they have gotten is difficult to determine.”
Thoughts?
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NRCC has poll showing Bustos on the bubble
Thursday, Oct 15, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hmm…
* National Politico…
Democrats don’t put much stock in the poll, and think BUSTOS is going to wallop KING. BUT … BUSTOS did just go negative on KING, knocking her from being from Chicago and looking to cut health care.
– THE DCCC RESPONDS: “The rumors are true — Chairwoman Bustos represents a district that swung 17 points toward Republicans in 2016 to vote for Donald Trump, and her constant focus on the needs of the communities she serves is why she’s continued to win her district handily year after year. What’s unclear is who the NRCC troll factory thinks they’re surprising with this poll when they have much bigger problems to deal with on every front.
“The fact that Cheri Bustos has won big in a Trump district is exactly the reason she is the right person to ensure the 30 Democrats in this caucus who also represent Trump won districts come back in three weeks.”
The new Bustos ad is here.
The King ads are here, here and here. They’re pretty good spots.
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That isn’t ending well
Thursday, Oct 15, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* October 7…
A lawyer representing three Rockford restaurants has submitted a cease and desist letter to the Winnebago County Health Department, claiming intimidation tactics in the enforcement of Gov. JB Pritzker’s latest coronavirus mitigation orders.
Thomas DeVore, Managing Attorney of Silver Lake Group, Ltd., sent a letter addressed to WCHD Director Dr. Sandra Martell on Wednesday, on behalf of Fozzy’s Bar & Grill, Nora’s Place and Casey’s Pub.
Nick Fosberg, the owner of Fozzy’s Bar and Grill, says he wants proof that restaurants and bars are the reason behind the spike.
* October 14…
The Winnebago County Health Department is taking enforcement action against some locally owned businesses for continued defiance of Gov. JB Pritzker’s latest Region 1 COVID-19 restrictions.
On Wednesday, Neighbor’s Bar and Grill, Fozzy’s Bar and Grill, and Doc’s Diner were all given Order of Closures by the WCHD.
Health officials say that “a reasonable belief exists that the premises identified in this Order has engaged or is suspected of engaging in a significant amount of activity likely to spread the following dangerously contagious or infectious disease: COVID-19.”
* Meanwhile, background is here if you need it. Doug Finke…
Attorneys argued over the extent of Gov. JB Pritzker’s emergency authority Wednesday, but will have to wait on a decision in the case.
Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grishow said she will rule as soon as possible, but it appears that won’t happen for more than a week. She gave attorneys until Oct. 23 to submit final paperwork that could be used in her decision.
Grishow heard arguments on three issues Wednesday, the biggest being whether lawsuits filed in six counties challenging Pritzker’s authority to issue stay at home orders and other measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic should be dismissed. […]
Pritzker’s attorneys initially argued that DeVore shouldn’t be allowed to make oral arguments Wednesday because he missed deadlines to file briefs, deadlines Grishow said would be strictly enforced. Grishow said that while she wanted her
deadlines met, she could allow DeVore to make his case.
He’s had how long to prepare briefs and still missed the deadline after a warning from the judge?
* Capitol News Illinois…
During a hearing Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Darren Kinkead argued that all of the cases should be dismissed because, in the case of public health emergencies, the state’s Emergency Management Act gives the governor broad authority to act proactively in order to prevent the spread of a disease.
Specifically, the law allows for the declaration of a public health emergency whenever there is “widespread exposure to an infectious or other toxic agent that poses a significant risk of substantial future harm to a large number of people in the affected population.”
Kinkead argued that it was “legally irrelevant” whether or not there have been a large number of cases or deaths in a particular county because the statute requires only the existence of widespread exposure and a risk of substantial future harm.
And even if the plaintiffs could get past that hurdle, Kinkead argued, the cases should still be dismissed because the plaintiffs had not provided evidence that there is no public health emergency in their county. […]
As the hearing ended, Judge Raylene D. Grischow said she intends to rule within the next two or three weeks. She gave attorneys on both sides until Oct. 23 to submit proposed orders. She said she will use one of the proposals as the basis for the final order.
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Your morning assignment
Thursday, Oct 15, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* David Roeder at the Sun-Times…
“Data is power in this day and age,” said David Williams, director of policy research at Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit group based at Harvard University. “So we’re very thankful for the partnerships we have.”
The group has used its partnerships to compile a continuous readout of the vital signs for the national and metro economies, including Chicago’s. Some information goes down to the ZIP code level. It’s all openly accessible at tracktherecovery.org, where users can view comparisons among regions. […]
(E)mployment rates in Chicago are off about 30% this year for low-income workers, vs. about 3% for those on the high end, the group’s latest data show. It also found Chicago’s small-business revenue is down 25% this year, with those in leisure and hospitality sustaining the worst declines.
Click here and tell us what you find. Also…
Explore how your community performs on the Distressed Communities Index. Users can visualize how well-being varies across zip codes, counties, and congressional districts. Click on a geography to activate the tool. Scroll below the map to dig deeper into the factors that make up the index and the demographic composition of each community.
Click here for that.
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Open thread
Thursday, Oct 15, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I had to delete some open thread comments yesterday because they strayed too far into national politics. If you want to discuss that topic, please find another venue. Keep it Illinois-centric and polite, please. Thank you kindly.
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