Illinois lawmakers worked right up to the May 31 deadline to pass a $55.2 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. State Democrats say the plan accounts for an uncertain future, while Republicans say more cuts are needed to address what’s ahead.

The $55.2 billion spending plan is supported by $55.3 billion of revenue, including just over $1 billion in new taxes and revenue changes. The four bills making up the budget and capital spending plan were part of a flurry of thousands of pages of legislation that went from introduction to passage in the final 48 hours of the legislative session.

House committees labored for months on the bill, which underwent late changes to win over holdouts in the Republican conference. It exceeds 1,000 pages and is titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a nod to Trump himself.

The hard-right lawmakers are insisting on steeper spending cuts to Medicaid and the Biden-era green energy tax breaks, among other changes, before they will give their support to President Donald Trump’s “beautiful” bill. They warn the tax cuts alone would pile onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt.

That massive growth funneled $5.84 billion into the special districts designed to spur redevelopment and eradicate blight, according to five years of reports on TIF districts published by the Cook County Clerk’s Office examined by WTTW News.

Tax-increment financing wasn’t invented in Chicago, but former Mayor Richard M. Daley perfected it as he worked to transform Mud City into a gleaming metropolis.

Black and Latino homeowners were forced to cover “a disproportionate share of the burden,” according to the latest analysis from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’ research team.

While the IRS has already received a majority of the 2024 federal income tax returns typically filed by Tax Day — 101.422 million as of April 4, to be precise — U.S. tax filers are expected to send in tens of millions more by today.

The announcement comes after months of tension within IRS over the data-sharing plans and internal concerns from career officials about the legality of the collaboration.

Eight ballot measures will likely be decided by voters who live in wealthy communities where the majority of residents are White and own a home, according to a new report from Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Earlier this year, the IRS announced that it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who didn’t receive their COVID stimulus payments.

Illinois is giving municipalities the ability to reinstitute the 1% grocery tax locally starting in January, when the state one disappears. Municipalities are now asking the state to give them more taxing authority.

“By applying the sales tax only to goods and a small number of services, Illinois is missing the ability to tax much of the spending within its borders,” the nonpartisan Civic Federation said in its latest report.

The renewed tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city’s business leaders comes after Johnson endured a bruising battle over the city’s 2025 budget and is under intense pressure from President Donald Trump.

Property tax bills for Cook County residents are available online at cookcountytreasurer.com and should hit mailboxes this week.

The IRS Direct File program, which lets eligible taxpayers file their taxes directly with the IRS for free, is now available in Illinois.