Post by Marc LeVine on Apr 11, 2007 15:05:40 GMT -5
Daley coalition tackles education funding reform
Plan guarantees money would be spent on classroom programs
April 11, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com
For 18 years under four governors, Mayor Daley has lobbied to shift the burden of education funding away from property owners and toward sales and income taxes.
The revolutionary change has gone nowhere in Springfield and Daley thinks he knows why: There were no strings attached.
On Tuesday, a Daley-formed coalition of 272 mayors unveiled a 10-point plan designed by the Civic Federation to guarantee that any new money for education will be spent on programs that impact classroom learning.
Every school board member in Illinois would be required to undergo at least six hours of training on financial oversight. School districts would develop long-term financial plans that include multiyear forecasts of revenue, spending and debt. Long-term capital improvement plans would also be required.
User-friendly budgets would be posted on the Internet. Performance measures would be developed and publicly reported for support services.
The State Board of Education would create an office to police the reforms and impose sanctions against noncomplying school administrators. Ultimately, the state board could withhold funding from school districts that thumb their noses at the reforms and remove recalcitrant administrators.
At a news conference at the Hampton Fine and Performing Arts School, 3434 W. 77th St., Elgin Mayor Ed Schock called the accountability measures a vital first step toward illusive education funding reform.
"Forty years of history and experience tells us that, when it's money alone, it hasn't succeeded ... So we said, 'Before we talk about money, let's talk about how we're going to be good stewards of the money we're asking people to give us," Schock said.
Daley said the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus would meet next week to get behind a specific funding plan. Instead of choosing between the gross receipts tax proposed by Gov. Blagojevich, the state income tax increase championed by state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) and competing proposals to expand casino gambling, "It's going to be a combination of things," Daley said.
"Everybody believes they're right. Everybody's very emotional, very passionate about this issue," he said.
"Democrats have the House, the Senate and every elected office in state government. We should be able to show the public that we can govern."
Note: Governor's plan:
Details of the Proposed Gross Receipts Tax
Gross receipts would be taxed at a rate of 1.8 percent (primarily service providers) or 0.5 percent (retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, contractors and agriculture and mining industries). Exempt receipts include:
All receipts if total Illinois receipts are less than $1 million
Sales to purchasers outside Illinois (imports would be subject to the tax)
Essential products and services (drugs, food for immediate consumption and services to Medicaid patients)
Businesses subject to alternative taxes (the gaming and insurance industries)
Not-for-profit organizations
Transactions with related parties (not yet defined)
Traders would have a deduction for the cost basis of the securities sold
If enacted, the gross receipts tax would become effective on Jan. 1, 2008. However, the corporate income tax would not be phased out for a two- to four-year period. Any corporate income tax paid during the phase out would be credited against the gross receipts tax to avoid double taxation.
The governor’s articulated rationale for such a sweeping change in business tax policy includes:
Businesses are not currently paying “their fair share of taxes”.
New taxes are necessary to pay for large current budget deficits and fund expansive new programs such as broad health care coverage and improved school funding. The governor estimates that his GRT will raise more than $6 billion in net revenues per year.
Gross receipts taxes have a broad base and typically low rates (though his rate is significantly higher than most of the rates that apply in the five other states with GRTs). Additionally, most of these states do not have income taxes plus a GRT as Illinois would.
Gross receipts taxes are applied the same to all businesses in an industry
Also:
Governor Rod Blagojevich is expected to unveil the expansion of Keno through the Lottery to fund the state's school construction grant program, according to the Peoria Journal Star.
"The state of Illinois should not prey on the vulnerable and make addicts of its own citizens," said Anita Bedell, executive director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems. "Legalizing the computer operated Lottery Game, Club Keno or Quick Draw Lotto, at liquor pouring establishments such as bars, lounges, bowling alleys, restaurants, and fraternal organizations will expand gambling in communities statewide. This is a highly addictive form of gambling, with no safeguards to prevent children from gambling."
Keno is a fast-paced computer operated Lottery game, with numbers drawn every 5 minutes in establishments that serve alcohol. These are the same type of establishments that were targeted for the legalization of video poker machines. Studies have shown that gamblers take more risks and gamble longer when they are drinking alcohol. Problem drinkers are 23 times more likely to have a gambling problem than individuals who do not have an alcohol problem. (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).
Sen. Meeks Bill:
Meeks' bill would increase the state income tax rate to provide $2.7 billion in property tax relief and expand the sales tax base to include consumer services such as haircuts, lawn care and health club fees. (NJ did this - where is that money?)
Plan guarantees money would be spent on classroom programs
April 11, 2007
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com
For 18 years under four governors, Mayor Daley has lobbied to shift the burden of education funding away from property owners and toward sales and income taxes.
The revolutionary change has gone nowhere in Springfield and Daley thinks he knows why: There were no strings attached.
On Tuesday, a Daley-formed coalition of 272 mayors unveiled a 10-point plan designed by the Civic Federation to guarantee that any new money for education will be spent on programs that impact classroom learning.
Every school board member in Illinois would be required to undergo at least six hours of training on financial oversight. School districts would develop long-term financial plans that include multiyear forecasts of revenue, spending and debt. Long-term capital improvement plans would also be required.
User-friendly budgets would be posted on the Internet. Performance measures would be developed and publicly reported for support services.
The State Board of Education would create an office to police the reforms and impose sanctions against noncomplying school administrators. Ultimately, the state board could withhold funding from school districts that thumb their noses at the reforms and remove recalcitrant administrators.
At a news conference at the Hampton Fine and Performing Arts School, 3434 W. 77th St., Elgin Mayor Ed Schock called the accountability measures a vital first step toward illusive education funding reform.
"Forty years of history and experience tells us that, when it's money alone, it hasn't succeeded ... So we said, 'Before we talk about money, let's talk about how we're going to be good stewards of the money we're asking people to give us," Schock said.
Daley said the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus would meet next week to get behind a specific funding plan. Instead of choosing between the gross receipts tax proposed by Gov. Blagojevich, the state income tax increase championed by state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) and competing proposals to expand casino gambling, "It's going to be a combination of things," Daley said.
"Everybody believes they're right. Everybody's very emotional, very passionate about this issue," he said.
"Democrats have the House, the Senate and every elected office in state government. We should be able to show the public that we can govern."
Note: Governor's plan:
Details of the Proposed Gross Receipts Tax
Gross receipts would be taxed at a rate of 1.8 percent (primarily service providers) or 0.5 percent (retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, contractors and agriculture and mining industries). Exempt receipts include:
All receipts if total Illinois receipts are less than $1 million
Sales to purchasers outside Illinois (imports would be subject to the tax)
Essential products and services (drugs, food for immediate consumption and services to Medicaid patients)
Businesses subject to alternative taxes (the gaming and insurance industries)
Not-for-profit organizations
Transactions with related parties (not yet defined)
Traders would have a deduction for the cost basis of the securities sold
If enacted, the gross receipts tax would become effective on Jan. 1, 2008. However, the corporate income tax would not be phased out for a two- to four-year period. Any corporate income tax paid during the phase out would be credited against the gross receipts tax to avoid double taxation.
The governor’s articulated rationale for such a sweeping change in business tax policy includes:
Businesses are not currently paying “their fair share of taxes”.
New taxes are necessary to pay for large current budget deficits and fund expansive new programs such as broad health care coverage and improved school funding. The governor estimates that his GRT will raise more than $6 billion in net revenues per year.
Gross receipts taxes have a broad base and typically low rates (though his rate is significantly higher than most of the rates that apply in the five other states with GRTs). Additionally, most of these states do not have income taxes plus a GRT as Illinois would.
Gross receipts taxes are applied the same to all businesses in an industry
Also:
Governor Rod Blagojevich is expected to unveil the expansion of Keno through the Lottery to fund the state's school construction grant program, according to the Peoria Journal Star.
"The state of Illinois should not prey on the vulnerable and make addicts of its own citizens," said Anita Bedell, executive director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol & Addiction Problems. "Legalizing the computer operated Lottery Game, Club Keno or Quick Draw Lotto, at liquor pouring establishments such as bars, lounges, bowling alleys, restaurants, and fraternal organizations will expand gambling in communities statewide. This is a highly addictive form of gambling, with no safeguards to prevent children from gambling."
Keno is a fast-paced computer operated Lottery game, with numbers drawn every 5 minutes in establishments that serve alcohol. These are the same type of establishments that were targeted for the legalization of video poker machines. Studies have shown that gamblers take more risks and gamble longer when they are drinking alcohol. Problem drinkers are 23 times more likely to have a gambling problem than individuals who do not have an alcohol problem. (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).
Sen. Meeks Bill:
Meeks' bill would increase the state income tax rate to provide $2.7 billion in property tax relief and expand the sales tax base to include consumer services such as haircuts, lawn care and health club fees. (NJ did this - where is that money?)