The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
Gov. Quinn and the two Democratic legislative leaders honed in on a potential tax-hike deal Tuesday that could raise the state’s share of workers’ paychecks to as much as 5 percent, a 66 percent jump.
Multiple options remained on the table and nothing had been finalized, but Quinn administration sources held out hope a tax-increase pact with House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) and Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) could be struck as soon as today.
Among the proposals discussed during two rounds of closed-door meetings between the three Democrats were increasing the individual income tax rate from 3 percent to 5 percent or increasing it by as little as one half of a percentage point.
The Sun-Times has more
grim news on Chicago's real estate market and the job front from real estate firm Grubb & Ellis:
The firm predicts the Chicago area’s office vacancy rates will remain flat at about 17 percent downtown and 25 percent in the suburbs. It doesn’t expect rents to increase until 2015.
Grubb estimated that more than 400,000 jobs have to be created for the Chicago area to reach pre-recession occupancy rates. State data showed the addition of about 100,000 jobs in the Chicago area last year.
Will a giant tax increase help job creation? Illinois Democrats could care less.
