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Doomed tax break ideas? Plus: Pork hit, spending sought

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Illinois

* This has been done before, but check the last paragraph for a glimpse into the bill’s future…

Illinoisans with kids in schools would get an unexpected state tax break before fall classes begin under a plan that unanimously passed the Senate Wednesday but appears to face long odds in the House.

The legislation would impose a nine-day period at the beginning of August where the state sales tax would be suspended on the purchase of school supplies, clothing, shoes or computers. […]

The $33 million measure passed the Senate 58-0 and now moves to the House, where it could face difficulty because there is no clear funding source to pay for the program at a time when the state can’t pay many of its bills on time.

* In other tax news…

Cook County would join the rest of the state in having annual property tax assessments under legislation the Illinois House passed Wednesday.

The measure is designed to take advantage of rapid fluctuations in the housing market, particularly when dropping values could lower property tax bills. Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago), the legislation’s sponsor, said the current three-year reassessment cycle is “not fair and equitable.” […]

The House approved the bill on a 78-32 vote, sending it to the Senate. But Cook County Assessor James Houlihan’s office questioned the price tag, saying it could cost $10 million to reassess the entire county by the measure’s proposed October deadline. The bill does not apply to commercial or industrial property.

Its fate in the Senate is uncertain, to say the least. Senate President Jones tends to ally with Speaker Madigan’s enemies, and Houlihan is high on Madigan’s enemies list.

* Also yesterday, a conservative group released its list of what it calls egregious pork projects…

llinois’ state budget for the current fiscal year is loaded with hundreds of millions of dollars in “wasteful spending,” two organizations said in releasing the 2008 Illinois Piglet Book on Wednesday.

* But much of what the group claims is “pork” really doesn’t fall under that traditional definition…

The report targeted projects such as Rural Medical Edcuation program at Rockford’s University of Illinois campus as wasteful spending.

The group’s “2008 Piglet Book” can be read here.

* More tax and spend stories…

* 4 H Kids Learn About Broken Promises as Governor Holds Back Funding

* Drivers on hook for old toll fines

* Texas ruling sheds light on strip-club tax

* Art Is Long, Money Is Short

* University advocates protest flat funding

* How is that extra sales tax being used?

* Sens. Hunter, Trotter Seek Reduction of Minorities in Illinois Prisons; Want Drug Laws Study, $10 Million for Treatment

* Pork Report for Illinois

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 10:31 am

Comments

I read Blankenship’s “report” yesterday. It’s pathetic as research or a policy prescription, of course, but it’s actually very helpful in another way: By attacking health care, education, conservation and pretty much every other important priority funded by state government, Blankenship makes clear that he is just a shallow anti-government ideologue. Guys like him and Larry Msall try to hide their extremism under the fig leaf of “nonpartisan” “watchdog” groups with bland names, but in fact they just all want to grow up to be Grover Norquist.

Comment by Reality Check Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 10:42 am
Ourlocal grade school learned all about the Governor’s broken promises last year. He has withheld promised money to the school. Blago just likes the photo op with the children and the promises of taking care of them all. What a champion! WHAT A JOKE.

Comment by Ann Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 10:51 am
I know Illinois Policy Institute was trying to do an Illinois version of the Citizens Against Federal Waste report at the federal level. I actually think CAFW has a good definition of “pork.”

To me, pork doesn’t just mean bad or wasteful or not worthwhile.

They say it has to satisfy one of these seven criteria.

-Requested by only one chamber of Congress;

-Not specifically authorized;

-Not competitively awarded;

-Not requested by the President;

-Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;

-Not the subject of congressional hearings; or

-Serves only a local or special interest.

Comment by jj Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 10:59 am
Lots of points:

* Many states have “back-to-school” sales tax suspensions. Maybe it might spur some spending.

* There is nothing unfair or inequitable about a three-year re-assessment cycle.

* Pork is a subjective term, but I like the “definition” jj provided.

* The governor’s abuse of higher education and Extension is simply criminal.

Comment by Fan of the Game Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 12:04 pm
Reality check is right - while many of the items identified in this report are undoubtedly wasteful - most of the report is pretty bogus in its use of the term pork. It is purely an exercise in right wing ideology.

For example - $500,000 to administer the tanning facility permit act is hardly “pork”. If you’re going to regulate tanning salons - which from a health perspective is a pretty good idea - it costs money to do so. That’s not pork.

Another example - the welfare to work laws require single women with kids to find jobs - usually low paying jobs - but this group then calls “pork” the money used to help pay for the daycare for the kids while their moms work.

$1,432,200 to the IELRB, the state agency that administers the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, is characterized by these folks as “pork” because they think teachers should not be able to unionize. But if you have union rights on the books, then you have to have someone to administer the act - that’s not “pork”.

Everyone decries bullying in school and the budget includes $1 million to the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority for programs designed to prevent bullying. How is that “waste” or “pork”?

$5 million for local health department grants for anti-smoking programs is characterized by these folks as “pork”.

$5 million for AIDS/HIV prevention in the black community, where it is epidemic, is called “pork.”

$4 million to reduce breast and cervical cancer in minority communities, where the incidence is much higher, is called “pork.”

In some instances, these folks don’t even realize that the entities they’re talking about receiving “pork” are actually state agencies, not outside groups.

It’s a shame someone reputable doesn’t prepare a more credible report identifying “real” pork.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 12:51 pm
The “low lights” of pork spending outlied in the inroduction include:
$4 million for a Ford Technical Training Center in Chicago Heights
Traing dollars to bring specific jobs to the chicago area, not pork
! $1 million for the Illinois film office in Chicago
Could be wasteful, but the film industry does pay indirect taxes in Illinois.

! $920,000 for the Chicago Aerospace Education Initiative
could be argued as pork
! $550,000 for the conservation of pheasants
The 550,000 comes from a fee on hunting permits, for just this cause. ITs a dedicated program at no cost to the taxpayers, unless you have a fowl stamp.

! $500,000 to administer the tanning facility permit act
Again, a dedicated stream. Tanning facilities pay a fee to IDFPR to administer their occupational licences
! $156,000 to Southern Illinois University to refurnish cabins at the “Touch of Nature
Environmental Center” at Southern Illinois University - Carbondale - Grant to a Public university, could be construed as pork, butr i dont think so
! $40,000 for the Springfield Figure Skating Club - Pork small $ amount though
! $35,000 for the Prairie Aviation Museum for a display gallery in Bloomington - Pork again, small $ amount.
THese guys kind of hurt their credibility when they list things they obviously don’t know background on.

Comment by Moderate Repub Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 12:56 pm
$2,000 to Beixing Xiang for an apprenticeship in Chinese erhu music;

$2,000 to Magdalena Solarz for an apprenticeship in Polish folk dance;

$2,000 to San Bun for an apprenticeship in Cambodian music;

$1,000 to Mary Leandra Baker for an apprenticeship in traditional Irish music;

$1,000 to Sheila I. Alegria for an apprenticeship in Guatemalan marimba music;

$100,000 for the Sportsmen Against Hunger program;

$1,000 to Harriet Kurp for an apprenticeship in Ukrainian Easter eggs;

$700 to Benjamin E. June for his suicide attack pillow project support. June’s pillows are
machine-embroidered black pillows marking every suicide bombing in Iraq since the U.S. invasion
on March 20, 2003;

$500 to Edra Soto Franklin for Consuming War exhibit support. This exhibit included: a white oil drum labeled “Product of Iraq” that dispenses an endless stream of red liquid intended to resemble blood; a dynamite-laden tot posed in front of a fiery cloud; and a blond in an American flag bikini.

$500 to David S. Farber for polar bear photo essay support.

Comment by How do you get a by-name pork approp: Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 1:20 pm
Policy institute also lists smoking cessation in the millions as pork. If they would have done any basic research on budgeting, they would no that this is tobacco settlement money. It can only be used for public health priorities that deal with smoking. Il Policy Inst come out with a flub.

Comment by Moderate Repub Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 4:49 pm
How do you get…,

Odd that Chinese erhu music and Polish folk dance are now considered to be as “bad” as diabetes research and rural healthcare.

Makes perfect sense.

PS: I would think “Sportsmen against Hunger” would be a good program — I don’t much about it so can’t say for sure. If hunters want to enjoy their sport and bring in some venison or fowl for hungry folks it seems like a good confluence of interests, especially considering other government and privately administered food programs like food pantries are running short of supplies and have been for some time given the “souring” economy.

Comment by Rob_N Thursday, Apr 10, 08 @ 5:18 pm