My Blog

Tag: Taxes

  • Illinois – 4th Worst Legal Climate for Business

    Illinois, along with California, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia, are among the worst states in the country for businesses because of their legal climates, according to survey of corporate attorneys released Monday. Two Illinois counties did not fare well in the survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s institute for legal reform, either. Cook County…

  • Who Pays What Income Taxes?

    At the DNC there was a lot of talk about “Everyone has to pay their fair share.”  That seems to be at introduction into a philosophical discussion about what a particular group should pay.  What is everyone’s “fair share?” In Tax Year 2009: Top 1%   paid 36.73% of the total tax bill; Top 5%  …

  • Eat the Rich vs. Obama

    I was reading this story: President Barack Obama will officially launch the battle over the impending fiscal cliff this morning, announcing a plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for people earning under $250,000, while letting the rest of the tax cuts expire. via Business Insider. This got me thinking about how much money will…

  • Google and the Merchandise Mart

    Good News!! Crain’s Chicago Business reports: Google is in talks to lease some 500,000 square feet in the Merchandise Mart, sources say.  The deal would include a rooftop deck.  The Internet search giant, looking to move employees from the Libertyville headquarters of its recently acquired Motorola Mobility, has an office for tech workers near the…

  • Drivers Get Creative to Avoid High Toll Fees

    Drivers fed up with New York City’s expensive toll roads are carpooling to save a few dollars on the George Washington Bridge, according to the Wall Street Journal. Bridge commuters can save $6 a vehicle by using the “carpooling” lane. Because of this, some rogue drivers have started picking up hitchhikers determined to save money…

  • Raise Taxes — Lose Revenue

    The current taxes on a pack of cigarettes in Chicago include $2 from Cook County, 98 cents from Illinois and 68 cents from the city. If Quinn signs the latest increase, the taxes in Chicago will be $4.66 per pack, compared with 99 cents in East Chicago. On Monday, a pack of Marlboros at a…

  • Wealthy Flee France (Shhh, don’t tell the U.S. Media)

    For those that don’t know, France recently had an election and voted for the most socialist guy on the ballot.  The guy who’s promising to raise taxes on the rich and increase the transfer payments to the poor.  The result?  The rich are leaving…  in droves. France’s high earners feel increasingly unwelcome in a country…

  • lllinois Moves Toward Insolvency

    We’re now making national news: After trying to tax Illinois to governmental solvency and economic dynamism, Pat Quinn, a Democrat who has been governor since 2009, now says “our rendezvous with reality has arrived.”  … Illinois was more heavily taxed than the five contiguous states (Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin) even before January 2011, when…

  • Food Stamps & Taxes Suggest We’re Nearing the End

    A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses…

  • Record Number of Americans Renounce Citizenship

    Last year, almost 1,800 people … renounc[ed] their U.S. citizenship or handing in their Green Cards.  That’s a record number since the Internal Revenue Service began publishing a list of those who renounced in 1998.  It’s also almost eight times more than the number of citizens who renounced in 2008, and more than the total…