Jan. 10, 2012 _ The state’s fiscal challenges continue to loom large despite a significant income tax increase and spending cap implemented almost a year ago. During the first week of January, Governor Quinn’s Office of Management and Budget issued budget projection reports that take a look at the state’s fiscal trajectory over the next three years.

IGPA Professor Don Fullerton, a former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury, takes a look at Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax code plan in a posting for the Center for Business and Public Policy's blog.  Read the posting.

After a steady increase for over a year, a key indicator of the Illinois economy has stalled in the three summer months. The University of Illinois Flash Index stayed at 97.8 in August, unchanged from June and July, reports economist J. Fred Giertz, who compiles the index for the IGPA.