Center for Tax and Budget Accountability
The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) is an Illinois group that provides information and analysis about local, state, and federal government tax and budget related issues.[1]
The group was founded in 2000. It is a self-described bipartisan, nonprofit advocacy think tank that works across ideological political lines. CTBA's end goal is social and economic justice. CTBA's approach is to come up with new policies that are "not only rigorous and evidence-based but would also bridge rather than reinforce ideological divides was both prescient—and crucial."[2]
Leadership[edit]
Ralph Martire serves as CTBA's executive director. Martire previously served in the Obama Administration as an appointed member to the U.S. Department of Education Equity and Excellence Commission.[3] The commission is a federal body that proposes ways to close educational achievement gaps.[4]
Funding[edit]
Unions[edit]
On January 1, 2015, the Illinois Education Association awarded CTBA a $40,000 lobbying contract with the stated purpose of education reform and tax policy analysis.[5]
Union PACs[edit]
Sources of funding reported by the Illinois State Board elections include:[6]
| Date | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 5/24/2010 | $115,000.00 | Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) |
| 9/12/2007 | $105,000.00 | Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE |
| 8/6/2009 | $100,000.00 | Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE |
| 11/10/2011 | $100,000.00 | Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE |
| 1/31/2013 | $100,000.00 | Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE |
| 8/10/2006 | $80,000.00 | Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE |
| 11/16/2006 | $75,000.00 | Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) |
| 9/30/2009 | $65,000.00 | Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) |
| 10/6/2008 | $65,000.00 | Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) |
Illinois PAC for Education (IPACE) is the political action committee of the Illinois Education Association, a state chapter of the National Education Association, a nationwide teacher's union. The purpose of IPACE is to elect people to the Illinois General Assembly, statewide offices, and local school boards.[7]
COPE is the political action committee of the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), an Illinois teacher's union.[8] IFT has around 103,000 members.[9]
Issues[edit]
City of Chicago budget[edit]
In September 2015, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told the Chicago city council that it had a choice: either raise property taxes by $543 million to pay for police and firefighter pensions, or layoff thousands of fire department and police department employees. CTBA, through Ralph Martire, responded by saying that Chicago residents would not like the tax increases. Martire criticized the city's spending habits under former mayor Richard Daley, specifically for not funding police and fire pension debt.[10]
State of Illinois budget[edit]
Martire wrote an opinion article on behalf of CTBA in Crain's Chicago Business in 2013. Martire proposed reamortizing the state's unfunded pension-debt liability as a way to solve the root cause of the problem. Martire said, "It will take an annual level-dollar payment of around $7.2 billion to get the systems healthy—$300 million more than it would have been in 2013."[11]
CTBA's proposed solution for Illinois' pension problem involves the following actions:[12]
- Expand the pension debt payback plan from 30 years to 43 years
- Raise taxes on personal income from 3.75 percent to 4.25-4.5 percent
- Expand sales tax (apply sales tax to services)
- Tax retirement income
Public employee union benefits and pensions[edit]
On its webpage where it published an April 7, 2014 press release, CTBA refers to itself in the headline as a "union-backed group."[13]
Martire wrote an opinion article published in the State Journal-Register and the Daily Herald where he calls for higher taxes to fund public employee union benefits. He referred to Governor Bruce Rauner's position in the Illinois budget standoff as a "firm, ideological commitment to curtailing collective bargaining rights." He also write, "The need for more revenue is so clear . . . the tax increases which the evidence indicates Illinois so sorely needs."[14][15]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Center for Tax and Budget Accountability". www.ctbatonline.org. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "About CTBA". Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (www.ctbaonline.org). Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "CTBA Staff". Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (www.ctbaonline.org). Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "Equity and Excellence Commission". U.S. Department of Education (www2.ed.gov). 2013-04-10. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ FORM LM-2 LABOR ORGANIZATION ANNUAL REPORT, Illinois Education Association[permanent dead link]. File Number 512-892 (Schedule 16 - Political Activities and Lobbying). Fiscal Year 2015. 2015-09-25. United States Department of Labor. Retrieved 2016-04-05
- ↑ "Expenditures Search - All Expenditures". www.elections.il.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "About IPACE". Illinois Education Association. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "Committee Details". www.elections.il.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "Why IFT". www.ift-aft.org. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "Emanuel To Aldermen: Raise Property Taxes, Or Lay Off Cops And Firefighters". CBS Chicago. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "How Illinois can crawl out of the pension debt swamp". Crain's Chicago Business. 2015-05-14. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ Kacich, Tom (2015-04-28). "Want to fix the state budget? Here's how, says one expert". The News-Gazette. Champaign, Illinois. Retrieved 2016-04-05.
- ↑ "Union-backed group says state spending, not tax cuts, helps business". Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
- ↑ Martire, Ralph (2016-03-16). "Ralph Martire: Evidence proves that Illinois needs more tax revenue". The State Journal-Register. Springfield, IL. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
- ↑ Martire, Ralph (2016-03-16). "The data tells the truth about state's inadequate tax policy". The Daily Herald. Arlington Heights, IL. Retrieved 2016-04-20.
External links[edit]
- CTBA Facebook page
- CTBA press room
- "C of C 8-23-14 CTBA - Center for Tax and Budget Accountability" on YouTube
- [1]
This article "Center for Tax and Budget Accountability" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
