PRESS RELEASE: Illinois Policy Institute launches billboard campaign against new taxes, government waste

Billboard on I-55 urges state lawmakers on their drive to Springfield: "Read my lipstick: No new taxes"

PRESS RELEASE from the
ILLINOIS POLICY INSTITUTE
MEDIA CONTACT: Diana Rickert
Diana@IllinoisPolicy.org or (312) 607-4977

Watch the installation of the billboard

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (Jan. 3, 2013) ? More than $2.2 million on cable TV for prison inmates. Nearly $5 million to send state government workers to college for free. Thousands of dollars for frisbees, lipstick and bobblehead toys ? all on the taxpayer dime.

Illinois’ penchant for wasteful government spending is alive and well, but taxpayers are tapped out. That’s why the Illinois Policy Institute has launched a billboard campaign urging state lawmakers to lower taxes and stop wasteful government spending.

This week the Institute debuted its first billboard with the following message: “Read my lipstick: No new taxes.” The billboard is located on I-55, approximately 16 miles south of Bloomington, near the exit for Atlanta, Ill.

Nearly 20,000 vehicles drive past the billboard’s location daily. The billboard is also along the route state lawmakers typically take on their way to Springfield from northeastern Illinois.

“On the road to Springfield and in the halls of the statehouse, lawmakers are inundated with requests for handouts from special interests, businesses and government entities,” said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president at the Illinois Policy Institute. “By putting up this billboard, we hope to give voice to taxpayers who pay for these pet projects in higher taxes, and who are struggling in Illinois’ faltering economy. It’s time to lower taxes, and end the culture of wasteful spending that dominates Illinois.”

The Illinois Policy Institute recently highlighted nearly 200 examples of wasteful spending in its “Illinois Piglet Book.” The cable TV for inmates, frisbees and bobbleheads are just a sampling of the more than $350 million in wasteful spending highlighted in the book.

Video footage of the billboard is available online.

To read Illinois Piglet Book, a project of the Illinois Policy Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste, visit: illinoispolicy.org/piglet

For interviews, contact: Diana Rickert (312) 607-4977

The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to making Illinois a beacon for liberty and prosperity for all citizens. As a leading voice for economic liberty and government accountability, the Institute engages policy makers, opinion leaders and citizens on the state and local level by promoting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois. To learn more about the Institute or review policy briefs, please visit: illinoispolicy.org.