Starting July 1, 2020, many Illinois cannabis consumers will see an increase in the taxes they pay on recreational cannabis as the Cannabis Retailers’ Occupation Tax that is allowed to be imposed by counties and municipalities goes into effect. This local option sales tax will be in addition to...

In the wake of protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police officers, police accountability and reform has risen to the forefront in government discussions, and residents in...

The Illinois Department of Revenue recently announced that the final equalization factor for the Cook County 2019 property assessment year (taxes payable in 2020) is 2.9160. Each year the Illinois...

Changes could be coming to Cook County’s pretrial electronic monitoring program as the Cook County President’s Office looks to hire a consultant to examine best practices and potential alternatives to the way the Sheriff’s electronic monitoring program is currently run.

While the number...

This blog post is an update to the Civic Federation’s April 9, 2020 blog post: How COVID-19 is Impacting Chicago’s Criminal Justice System and How Public Safety...

Revenue estimates presented at the April 29, 2020 meeting of the Cook County...

The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a severe blow to Chicago’s hospitality industry. Conventions have been cancelled, dine-in restaurants have closed, airport traffic has plunged and sporting events have been cancelled. As of early April, the City had experienced the loss of over 20 conventions...

As discussed in a previous blog post , the unprecedented public health emergency brought on by coronavirus has led local governments in Illinois to enact...

The spread of the COVID-19 virus and the measures put in place to reduce the transmission of the virus have forced states and localities across the...

The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on all sectors, including the criminal justice system. How are the public safety agencies in Chicago, Cook County and Illinois responding to the public health emergency?

Cook County Jail

On March 9, the day Illinois Governor JB...

The Civic Federation, in partnership with the Union League Club of Chicago, co-hosted a panel featuring candidates for Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County on February 21, 2020. The Civic Federation thanks the four Democratic candidates for their participation in the event:

Richard...

In December the Civic Federation explored how Illinois, its local governments and other states tax recreational cannabis. In this post we will look at how those cannabis tax revenues...

In the November 2020 general election, Cook County voters will elect a new Circuit Court Clerk for the first time since 2000, with current Clerk Dorothy Brown opting not to run for reelection. Four Democratic candidates and one Republican candidate have...

The Civic Federation recently released its annual Effective Property Tax Rates report . The report highlights that in 2017 property tax burdens for many...

On December 19, 2019 the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the City of Chicago’s ordinance imposing a tax on other tobacco products. The Supreme Court sided with the plaintiff that the City’s...