Ralph Martire with the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability says the Governor's new proposals for increased spending in education are strong investments. Ralph Martire joined Capitol Connection Host Cole Henke to talk about the state’s fiscal health, and the challenges it still faces.
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Video: Jesse Sharkey, the outgoing president of the Chicago Teachers Union; Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability; and Laurence Msall, president of The Civic Federation join “Chicago Tonight” to discuss the Chicago Public Schools budget for the coming year. (Produced by Jennifer Cotto)
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The Schaumburg Township District Library hosted an Illinois Public Pension discussion on May 10, 2022. Panel members included Carol Portman of the Taxpayer's Federation of Illinois as the moderator, Adam Schuster of Illinois Policy Institute, and Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
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The National Council of Jewish Women, Chicago North Shore hosted Ralph Martire for a virtual discussion on Illinois’ Tax Infrastructure: How Income, Sales, and Property Taxes Interact. Some pieces of the puzzle that Ralph addressed included: How do income taxes interact with sales and property taxes? Will Illinois ever have a tax structure that takes them all into account? How will there be enough money to fund human services in Illinois? You can watch the presentation via YouTube at the following link: https://youtu.be/xIuiU0VUybk.
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The SBAC and the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (IACCE) hosted a virtual town hall regarding the ballot initiative for the proposed graduated income tax. This nonpartisan town hall offered perspectives in favor and opposition to the proposed initiative. The panel included Leslie Munger, former Deputy Governor and Comptroller of Illinois, and Ralph Martire, Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
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The Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois hosted CTBA Executive Director and Roosevelt University Professor of Public Policy for an online presentation about the state budget and what a fair tax means for Illinoisans.
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Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-39th) and Center for Tax and Budget Accountability Executive Director Ralph Martire joined Northside Democracy for America (NDFA) for its July 2020 online meeting. Rep. Guzzardi and Ralph Martire provided an in depth lesson on the Fair Tax-what it is, what it will accomplish, why it is necessary, and how to make sure the November referendum passes. To watch the program, go to NDFA's Facebook page here. The program begins at approximately 4 min 15 sec.
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The pros and cons of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature issue — a proposed graduated income tax — were discussed and dissected at length during a panel discussion in Oak Park, Illinois.
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It may feel like Illinois, and Chicago in particular, already take a cut of everything and anything that can be taxed – come January, Illinois will even begin to tax rented parking. But in reality, Illinois skips some significant potential sources of tax revenue: There’s no tax on retirement income, for one, and the state taxes only a handful of services (most are utility-related).
Revenue from a statewide broadened sales tax could bring extra money to both the state and to communities around Illinois that are likewise facing monumental pension pressures, particularly as pro-labor Pritzker is steadfast that he will not look to curb government employees’ and retirees’ benefits (the state constitution hamstrings even those who do favor that approach).
Various groups have long called for Illinois to add a sales tax to services, including the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and the Civic Federation.
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“A statewide pension system would involve consolidating various municipal pension systems into one pension system. Under the mayor’s [reported] proposal, not only would the plan be to consolidate it but the state would become responsible for funding various pensions plans,” said Carol Spain, director of U.S. Public Finance at S&P Global.
“[The system] would relieve the local government from needing to levy property taxes or other local taxes to pay for their pension plan,” she said.
But not everybody’s on board. Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday at an event celebrating Illinois’ new capital program that the state’s near-junk status would prohibit it from taking on Chicago’s pension woes.
“There are not liabilities that can be adopted by the state that would not drive us into junk status,” he said.
Spain and Daniel Hertz, research director at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, join us in discussion.