If you haven't paid your taxes recently, you're in luck. On Friday, Illinois plans to roll out its 2010 tax amnesty plan. Delinquent taxpayers will have five weeks -- from October 1 to November 8 -- to pay the state unpaid back taxes accrued between July 2002 to July 2009 without facing fines. The Illinois Department of Revenue estimates that 200,000 people either owe money to the state or could owe based on federal tax records. Supporters say it will provide state government with one-time revenue burst of $250 million.

There's some research that suggests tax amnesty plans place future revenues at risk by "devaluing compliance" with state tax collectors. (That's the reason Gov. Pat Quinn was initially ambivalent about the proposal.) But with so much debt hanging over our heads, it's a risk lawmakers were willing to take.