BUDGET
CGFA report shows continued State revenue decline. The report, from the nonpartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA), is based on cash-flow numbers from the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) and the departments that collect matching aid payments and other payments from the U.S. federal government. These departments reported a sharp decline in September 2024 income relative to the prior year. While in September 2023 the State took in $6,171 million for purposes of General Funds spending, in September 2024 the State took in only $5,514 million, signaling a decline of $657 million (down 10.6% year-over-year) in general funds receipts.
Two key lines of recurring income, which ought to show stability from the State’s point of view, demonstrated sharp declines in September 2025. Corporate income tax payments to the State dropped by $89 million in September 2024 relative to one year earlier. Sales tax payments dropped year-over-year by $45 million during the same period, signaling a sharp decline in Illinois purchases of taxable consumer goods such as motor vehicles and furniture. Continued economic worries among U.S. consumers could be having a negative effect on Illinois consumer buying decisions and sales tax payments.
Worries about the U.S. and global economies helped spur a recent interest rate cut carried out by the U.S. Federal Reserve. This rate cut may, or may not, re-spur the U.S. economy – but will also have secondary effects on other lines of State income and expenditure. For example, in September 2024 the amounts earned by Illinois as interest on our State’s funds and investments dropped year-over-year by $36 million. If interest rates are cut, the State of Illinois is likely to earn less in interest. This was yet another segment of the overall General Funds year-over-year decline for September 2024.
The month of October honors manufacturing employees and highlights exciting job opportunities and career pathways available in the industry.
ENERGY
LIHEAP program applications available now.The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is available for income qualified households. This energy bill assistance program can assist with natural gas, propane, electricity bills and furnace assistance. Applications are open now through August 15, 2025, or until funds are exhausted.
LIHEAP provides one-time payments directly to energy service providers on behalf of recipients. While the amount of support varies based on the needs of individual families, last year over 333,000 households received LIHEAP with an average of over $724 per household.
Residents in need are urged to visit helpillinoisfamilies.com to get started or to visit their local agency (a list of partners throughout the state can be found here). Families can also call 1-833-711-0374 for assistance in 30 languages.
OUTMIGRATION
By the tens of thousands each year, Illinoisans are fleeing this state’s rising taxes and mediocre jobs climate. Many no longer see Illinois as their fount of opportunity, the place worth investing their lives and businesses. They know the math of Illinois’ enormous public debts and the decadeslong soaking its taxpayers face. State Rep. Mike Coffey says it’s clear as day that “high taxes” is the number one reason people continue to leave our state.
ISRAEL
One year ago on October 7, 2023, Hamas militants initiated a deadly surprise assault on Israel, slaughtering entire families in their homes and taking more than 250 people hostage. It was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Israel’s history.
In response to eyewitness accounts and video evidence of the atrocities, Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie voiced her support for Israel and issued the following statement:
“The Israeli people and Jewish Americans deserve our unequivocal support against threats to their very existence and the grotesque antisemitism displayed by groups here at home and in the Middle East.”
Hamas terrorists staged a mass slaughter of soldiers and civilians in at least 22 Israeli villages, towns and military outposts. Nearly 1,200 people, mostly civilians were killed in the October attack. According to the U.S. Justice Department, Hamas brutally murdered more than 40 Americans on October 7.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 10 were American. This is what we know to-date about the hostages:
- In exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, 105 hostages were freed during a brief temporary cease-fire in November of 2023, including Americans Judith and Natalie Raanan from Illinois.
- At least eight hostages are known to have been rescued alive.
- 12 hostages have died in Gaza, either at the hands of their captors or in Israeli strikes. American Hersh Goldberg-Polin was among six hostages who were executed by Hamas terrorists in late August.
- The bodies of three Americans killed on October 7 remain in the hands of Hamas: Itay Chen, Gadi Haggai, and Judith Weinstein Haggai
- 97 hostages still are captive in Gaza among them four Americans: Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra and Keith Siegel. It is feared that at least 30 of these hostages are dead.
According to the Washington Post, “The evidence, described by more than a dozen current and former intelligence and security officials from four Western and Middle Eastern countries, reveals an intention by Hamas planners to strike a blow of historic proportions, in the expectation that the group’s actions would compel an overwhelming Israeli response.”
Israel wasted no time in launching its offensive and declared war on the terrorist organization, vowing to keep up the fight until Hamas is destroyed and removed from power in Gaza and all the hostages are freed.
More than 43,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Hamas set the conflict in motion to provoke Israel into an overwhelming response. In that, they were successful. The latest escalation in the Israel-Hamas war lays bare the reality that the area has grown profoundly more perilous since Hamas’s October 7 terror attack.
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