Economic Issues

As opposed to just our home financial issues, this focuses more on the structural ways that we fund the society in which we live. Every method in which your city, county, and state collects revenue - whether from income taxes, property taxes, TIF districts, or even red light cameras - how our government gets its funding affects every single person. That means it is vitally important that the people know how and why the revenue is being collected, how it is being spent, and whether anyone is using that system to fleece the public for their own profits.

IVI-IPO supports

• Raising the federal income tax rate on higher incomes and taxing dividends and capital gains at the same rate as earned income

• Adoption of a graduated state income tax for Illinois

• The use progressive income taxes at the state, county and city levels of government, in lieu of property and other regressive taxes, consistent with the Illinois constitution and home rule authority

• An open and transparent budget process at all levels: city, county, state, and federal

• A moratorium on new TIFs in Chicago unless alternative revenue streams are identified to replace the funds lost to the TIF district.

• Publicly funded programs that prioritize workforce investment benefiting the unemployed, the underemployed, and those no longer eligible for public assistance

• The principle of international debt forgiveness to help the world’s poorest countries break the cycle of poverty

IVI-IPO opposes

• Structural adjustment programs (SAPs)

• Proposals to cut spending that do not specify which programs will be cut

• Privatization of Social Security or Medicare

• Establishment of TIFs in non-blighted areas.

• Expansion of casino gambling unless supported by voters in a statewide referendum