State Stix

In October the general funds end-of-month balance was $398.68 million; the general funds average daily available balance was $416.78 million, and the combined funds end-of-month balance was $599.78 million. . . . The final statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rale in October was 9.2 percent. The final seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for the state's major cities in September were not available as of November 7.. . . According to the U.S. Commerce Department, slate government spending increased 10.2 percent from 1978 to 1979 while revenues increased 9.8 percent in the same period. The 50 states' largest expenditure was education — $77.7 billion. . . . According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the average increase in state tax funds appropriated for higher education over the two-year period of 1980 and 1981 was 23 percent. In Illinois the increase was 24 percent. Increases ranged from 50 percent in Wyoming to 6 percent in Pennsylvania. Adjusted to inflation, the average 23 percent increase amounts to 4 percent. ... At the end of its first year, the corporate personal property tax replacement provided local governments in Illinois with $552.8 million in revenues or 24 percent more than the $445.3 million received the last year of the old tax. The Department of Revenue expects the replacement tax to bring in about $510 million in 1981 due to a drop in the tax rate on corporations and the delayed effects of the recession. Projections show that under the old tax, $491 million would have been collected in 1981. . . . Projections from the Atomic Industrial Forum show that by 1990 nuclear plants will represent about 16 percent of the nation's generating capacity and will produce about 22 percent of the nation's electricity. In 1979 nuclear plants produced about 11.4 percent of U.S. electricity.

December 1980/Illinois Issues/29