February 22 Illinois History Minute
It’s February 22nd, and on this day in 1932, Republican governor Louis Emmerson signed a bill creating a graduated state income tax in Illinois. It was a response to a fiscal crisis fueled by the Great Depression. But the graduated tax was thrown out by the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled that it violated the state constitution’s uniformity requirements. Illinois got a flat state income tax in 1969.
On this day in 1926, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five recorded this version of “Come Back Sweet Papa”, one of Armstrong’s 79 Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, all made in Chicago. These records helped establish the primacy of jazz soloists over collective performances.