Ted Dabrowski
Vice President of Policy

John Klingner

Public Policy Research Assistant

The Tax Foundation has reaffirmed Illinois’ status as a high-tax state in its newly released 2012 Annual State-Local Tax Burden Ranking. Based on the Census Bureau’s 2010 data, the report found that Illinois’ overall tax burden per resident is the 11th highest in the nation.

Some highlights from the report include:

• At 10.2 percent, Illinois has the 11th highest state and local tax burden as a percent of state income.

• Of Illinois’ neighbors, only Wisconsin, ranked fifth, has a higher tax burden, at 11.1 percent. The remaining states have lower overall burdens:

• Indiana, 9.6 percent, ranked 23rd 
• Iowa, 9.6 percent, ranked 24th 
• Kentucky, 9.4 percent, ranked 26th
• Missouri, 9 percent, ranked 34th
  

• In 2000, Illinois was ranked 29th with a tax burden of 9.1 percent. Since then, the state has dropped 18 places due to its increased tax burden.

• Alaska has the lowest burden at 7 percent; New York has the highest at 12.8 percent.
  

Illinois’ ranking will only worsen when next year’s report takes into account the record 67 percent personal income tax hike passed in early 2011. Illinoisans are still struggling with the damaging effects of the hike that failed to fix Illinois’ fiscal woes.

Amazingly, certain groups within Illinois are looking to pick up where Quinn’s tax hike left off, pushing for a progressive income tax to increase revenue instead of working to cut spending. Such a tax would hurt the middle class and the economy, and increase taxes by more than $6.4 billion in 2015.

The fact is there is no more room in Illinois families’ budgets for another tax hike.

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