University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series最新文献

{"title":"Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic State perspectives","authors":"David Merriman","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3882914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3882914","url":null,"abstract":"This second report from the Economic and Fiscal Health Impact Group of the IGPA Task Force on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic delves into the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the employment picture in Illinois. The report finds that the current recession differs from past ones in key ways. Perhaps the biggest difference is the continued public health threat COVID-19 presents, which might cause Illinois residents to continue to limit their economic activity.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129433105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Improving Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Economic Development","authors":"David Merriman","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3887676","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3887676","url":null,"abstract":"Tax increment financing (TIF), a popular economic development tool across the United States, often falls short of its promise to revitalize struggling neighborhoods. TIF earmarks property tax revenue increases (or “increments”) in a designated area that are expected to result from new development and real estate appreciation generated by the TIF. Enabled by the state, city governments typically create new TIF districts and specify their goals, permitted expenditures, and terms of operation. This practice allows cities to divert revenues of overlying governments—such as counties or school districts—to fund economic development, rationalizing that diverted revenues would not exist “but for” the economic activity TIF funds. Therefore, in theory, there is no loss to overlying governments, and developers receive no subsidy unless they spur development. Indeed, TIF’s power lies in its potential to bring together private- and public sector actors to stimulate growth. Local governments should provide extensive, easily accessible information about TIF use, revenues, and expenditures, and they should document progress toward clearly articulated goals. TIF spending is fundamentally different from other government spending; districts are often not subject to ordinary democratic controls, thus meriting much more reporting and transparency. Furthermore, municipal legislators should be able to make evidence-based adjustments to TIF districts, such as limiting durations or dissolving those that do not meet the jurisdiction’s objectives. Researchers should study, document, and explain the mixed outcomes of TIF and expand knowledge about the types of TIF expenditures that best promote economic development. To date, academic studies of TIF document mixed outcomes but do not clearly identify factors that explain variations in outcomes of TIF use in various geographic areas.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"395 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116524316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Efficiency and Distributional Effects of Illinois Gas Taxes","authors":"D. Fullerton, Kaveh Nafari, J. Reif","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3893636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3893636","url":null,"abstract":"The current fiscal crisis in Illinois affects all parts of the state’s budget. Infrastructure is no exception. For many years Illinois has spent more on highways than it has collected in highway-related revenue. One solution to this problem is to increase the state’s gasoline tax. This report discusses the efficiency and distributional effects of increasing the state’s gas tax, and also compares a gas tax increase to alternative solutions such as increased use of tolls. The gasoline tax might efficiently reduce gasoline use and associated negative externalities such as pollution, but a tax on “vehicle miles traveled” (VMT) might be more efficient at reducing other negative effects of driving like congestion and accidents. Another alternative is increased use of tolls. If these tolls are set at higher rates during rush hour, they can be most effective at reducing the worst congestion. All of these alternative policies might have regressive distributional burdens, since low-income families spend a higher fraction of income on driving than do high-income families, but these “road user taxes” might be justified as a way to charge those who benefit from the use of roads in Illinois.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128113594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Do Childcare Centers and Preschools Weather Funding Disruptions?","authors":"R. Gordon","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3882007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3882007","url":null,"abstract":"This Preschool Policy Forum documents the many funding sources for Chicago area childcare centers and preschools as well as the frequency and impact of funding disruptions between 2011 and 2012. The study surveyed 229 center directors in 33 ZIP Codes on the west and north sides of Chicago as part of the Chicago Area Study series at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The policy brief takes a close look at how public and private centers and preschools weathered the recession and resulting funding delays, and provides clues about how the state can assist such organizations in the future. <br><br>Major findings include: <br><br>Funding sources differed in expected but stark ways between centers located in poor versus affluent areas. Centers in the poorest areas relied largely on publicly funded programs. Nearly one-third of centers located in the wealthiest areas received public funding in addition to private tuition. <br><br>The majority of centers reported delayed payments both from government sources and from parents in 2011-2012. Most center directors reported negative consequences of these delays for their financial stability. Centers located in higher-income areas were not immune to these disruptions. <br><br>Both participation and delays were most common in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) and from parents. Nearly every director who participated in CCAP reported delays in 2011-2012; and, almost three-quarters of all directors reported that parental tuition payments sometimes came in late. Frequent delays from parents often coincided with significant CCAP delays, and directors with this double blow reported the greatest worries about their finances. <br><br>Effects of slow payments rippled out to program staff, families, and children. Delayed staff paychecks and staff layoffs were particularly common. Directors viewed these as reducing morale and increasing turnover. Directors had difficulty paying bills and purchasing supplies, and believed program quality suffered as a result. Some center directors were able to tap into cash reserves and lines of credit, whereas others had little cushion and directors sometimes filled the gap out of their own pockets. <br><br>In both lower- and higher-income areas, centers that were part of larger organizations––including schools and religious organizations–– and directors with greater support from their professional networks, reported less distress from delayed payments than those without such relationships. <br><br>The results help decision makers understand which funding sources directors believed were most often delayed and how they perceived those delays to impact their programs.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123472845","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foreclosing on Community ","authors":"M. Krysan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3883687","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3883687","url":null,"abstract":"Communities across the nation continue to struggle with the long-term effects of the housing market crash and resulting foreclosure crisis of 2006-2007. In Cook County, which includes the city of Chicago and several surrounding suburbs, foreclosure and resulting vacant buildings continue to pose complex problems even as foreclosure rates slow and the market begins to level out. In Chicago, a long history of racial residential segregation and the sub-prime lending crisis has concentrated the effects of foreclosure in African-American and minority communities. Why is this true? And what does it mean for the future of the city and surrounding suburbs?","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128976282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Across the Board Cuts","authors":"Christopher Mooney","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3885275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3885275","url":null,"abstract":"As the introductory reports in the IGPA Budget Policy Toolbox demonstrate, projected state spending in Illinois outpaces projected revenue for the next several years, with the gap increasing over time. IGPA’s Fiscal Futures Project has found that from 2015 onward, the deficit will rise from around $4 billion per year to over $12 billion per year in 2025, even under an optimistic pension reform scenario. This unsustainable state of affairs can be addressed by increasing revenue and/or decreasing spending. The projected deficit could even be helped by allowing spending to grow—just at a slower rate than currently expected (what we call “bending the curve”), or by substantial economic growth in the state. Other reports in the Budget Policy Toolbox discuss various approaches to increasing revenue. Across-the-board budget cuts can be useful as political rhetoric but have significant difficulties of implementation. To mitigate these implementation problems, policymakers can: Require cuts at the department or agency level— rather than the program level—for greater flexibility; Allow for differential percentage cuts among the different departments or agencies based on a current assessment of policy priorities and the impact of reduced government spending on those priorities. But, of course, these sorts of modifications move any such budget reduction away from a pure ATB cut to a plan based on the priorities and resources of the state. In other words, these modifications move in the direction of the normal budget-making process.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"102 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123367980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rethinking Property Taxation","authors":"Nathan B. Anderson, Robert Ross","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3888468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3888468","url":null,"abstract":"This report looks at local governments’ biggest source of revenue: property taxes. The authors provide a primer on how the taxes are calculated, and new formulas for understanding an individual’s tax share. The authors also propose an alternative format for local property tax statements that can be used to better communicate answers to taxpayers who wonder why their property tax liability has changed. Local governments in Illinois rely heavily on property taxes as a source of revenue—governments collected approximately $23.4 billion in property taxes. Illinois has the fourth highest property tax burden in the United States. The property tax base in Illinois is determined using a four-step process based on the property’s fair cash value. The sum of the tax bases of all individual properties within a taxing district creates the total tax base. The tax share is the ratio of a property’s taxable equalized assessed value to the total tax base in the taxpayer’s jurisdiction. The authors present a new property tax statement that conveys the changes in tax liability by including information on the jurisdictions’ revenue and tax bases and the taxpayer’s tax shares.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125238318","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Illinois State Budget: How Bad Is the Picture, and What Can You Do About It?","authors":"David Merriman, Nancy W. Hudspeth, Andrew Crosby","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3886537","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3886537","url":null,"abstract":"State finances work much like your finances at home. The state has income (revenue) and expenses (sometimes called expenditures). It also has a bank account of sorts (called a fund balance). Each year, the state comes up with a budget for the year, and then tries to stick to that budget throughout the year. Recently, the State of Illinois budget has been operating in a way that would be much like having a personal budget with massive credit card debt and no money in your checking account, but you kept writing checks anyway and had no plan to deal with the debt. The beginning of 2011 saw Illinois facing a harrowing fiscal situation. The State had billions in unpaid bills, and a 2011 budget gap estimated at $11 billion. If the budget were balanced with only cuts, 26% cuts would be required across the board. Beyond cuts, the State had few options to deal with this problem. Among the potential solutions: accumulating bills, issuing debt, and raising revenue. It could also enact a combination of these options. If someone offers a budget solution that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Quick fixes are likely not real options. Illinois is not likely to be out of its fiscal crisis for at least several years (IGPA projects 2019, even under the most optimistic of scenarios) IGPA projects that taxes need to remain at their current levels for budget to balance. Cutting certain programs may also be a wise budget move, but some programs cannot be cut or cut quickly. Ultimately, doing nothing and waiting for the economy to grow is not an option. By telling your lawmakers that you understand the complete budget picture and want to see the budget fixed in an honest and responsible manner, you are encouraging them to tackle difficult and unpopular problems.","PeriodicalId":299367,"journal":{"name":"University of Illinois Institute of Government & Public Affairs Policy Studies Research Paper Series","volume":"102-B 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124446867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}