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Report | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Caution: Red Light Cameras Ahead

Privatized traffic law enforcement systems are spreading rapidly across the United States. But when private firms and municipalities consider revenues first, and safety second, the public interest is threatened.

News Release | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Red Light and Speed Cameras: Public Safety or Private Gain?

No one likes getting traffic tickets. But a new research report released today by Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG) will make you dislike them even more.

News Release | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Food, Tax

Taxpayer Subsidies for Junk Food Wasting Billions

An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a recent analysis shows that taxpayers overwhelmingly subsidize commodity crops instead of fruits and vegetables—enough for each taxpayer to pay for 19 Twinkies, but only a quarter of an apple every year.

Report | Illinois PIRG | Budget, Tax

Toward Common Ground

To break through the ideological divide that has dominated Washington this past year and offer a pathway to address the nation’s fiscal problems, the National Taxpayers Union and U.S. PIRG joined together to identify mutually acceptable deficit reduction measures.

News Release | Illinois PIRG | Budget, Tax

Unlikely Allies Uncover $1 Trillion in Savings for Super Committee

As the Congressional “Super Committee” begins its search for $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, a new study released today by the Illinois Public Interest Research Group (Illinois PIRG) and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) provides the panel with a great place to start: more than $1 trillion of spending cuts with appeal from across the political spectrum.

Wait, what is TIF?

Tuesday, September 6, 2011
By | Celeste Meiffren
Field Director

I was at a BBQ this weekend for Labor Day and a friend of mine told me that she had been reading 'Tax Dollars and Sense,' but was embarrassed because she had no idea what tax increment financing is. That's understandable.

So, in an effort to hold up the "sense" part of this blog, here is a quick breakdown of what a TIF is and how it works.

Report | Illinois PIRG | Budget, Tax

Shining a Light on Tax Increment Financing in Chicago

This report gives an initial snapshot of how well the Mayor’s office is doing in introducing transparency to tax increment financing (TIF) by examining how well critical information has been made available on the TIF transparency website.

Report | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Tax Shell Game

Tax havens are countries with minimal or no taxes, to which U.S.-based multinational firms or individuals transfer their earnings to avoid paying taxes in the United States. Users of tax havens benefit from access to America’s markets, workforce, infrastructure and security, but pay little or nothing for it—violating the basic fairness of the tax system.

News Release | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Off-Shore Tax Havens Cost Illinois Taxpayers $490 a Year

Major corporations and some individuals avoid a total of as much as $100 billion a year in federal taxes by “off-shoring” the profits they make here in the U.S. or by setting up sham headquarters in tax haven countries. As a result, Illinois taxpayers are left footing the bill.

Report | Illinois PIRG Education Fund | Budget, Tax

Privatization and the Public Interest

Chicago has been the most aggressive city in the United States in the privatization of public infrastructure. The problems resulting from parking meter privatization could have been avoided had Chicago followed common-sense principles regarding the privatization of public assets and provided the public with the ability to monitor and influence the privatization process

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PRIORITY ACTION

Some of the nation’s best-known companies—including GE, Google and Goldman Sachs—have avoided paying the taxes they owe, costing us $100 billion last year.

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