Presidential debate facts: Illinois edition

How has Illinois performed under President Obama?

Budget + Tax

Illinois’ total state debt is $271 billion.
Illinois’ state debt has ballooned to $51,000 per household.
Illinois’ state debt per resident is $21,000.
Illinois has roughly $8.5 billion in unpaid bills.
Illinois has had 12 credit downgrades since 2008.
Illinois will spend more on pensions than on education by 2016.
Illinois has more units of local government than any other state in the nation.
Illinois has the worst funded pension system in the nation.
Illinois’ pension inaction costs the state $18 million per day.
Illinois pension funds need 19 percent annual investment returns in order to pay for the promised benefits.

Taxmageddon

For Illinois, the average tax increase in 2013 is estimated to be $3,452 per tax return for a state total of $22.73 billion.
Starting January 1, 2013, Americans will face a $494 billion tax increase, the highest ever in one year.
The average American household would see its taxes rise by $3,800 in 2013 alone.
Almost 34 percent of the tax increases from Taxmageddon come from the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.
Another 25 percent comes from the expiration of the payroll tax cut.
Taxmageddon falls primarily on middle- and low-income Americans. That’s because 60 percent of the Bush tax cuts went to middle and low-income taxpayers.

Poverty

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) served nearly 45 million people, or one in seven Americans in fiscal year 2011.
1.8 million people were enrolled in SNAP in Illinois in fiscal year 2011.
2.1 million people were receiving Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) benefits in fiscal year 2011.
48 percent of students in Illinois were eligible for free and reduced price lunches in fiscal year 2011.
84 percent of students in Chicago were eligible for free and reduced price lunches in fiscal year 2011.

Jobs and Growth

Illinois’ unemployment rate was 9.1 percent in August.
Illinois unemployment has increased for three straight months.
Nearly 600,000 Illinoisans are looking for work.
39 states have a lower unemployment rate than Illinois.
It will take 43 months for Illinois’ unemployment rate to recover to its pre-recession low, given the current pace of job creation and assuming no growth in the labor force.
Median household incomes have dropped by 8.2 percent across the nation since President Obama took office.
Median household income dropped by 2.6 percent in Illinois between 2010 and 2011.
Illinois hiked state income taxes by 67 percent.
Illinois is 47th in job growth.
Illinois is 48th in economic outlook.
Illinois is 48th in economic performance.
Illinois is 48th in net domestic migration.
Illinois is 48th in average workers’ compensation costs.
Illinois has the worst credit rating in the nation.
Illinois has had 12 credit downgrades since 2008.
The rate of entrepreneurship in Illinois has been below the national average every year since 1996, with the exception of 2001.
Chicago is tied with Detroit for the worst entrepreneurship rate among the 15 largest metropolitan areas in the country.
A 2012 survey of the nation’s CEOs by Chief Executive Magazine found that Illinois ranked 48th in the nation for business desirability.

Health Care

Medicaid reimbursement rates are among the worst in the nation.
Medicaid enrollment has ballooned more than 3 million Illinoisans in 2012, up from 1.5 million Illinoisans in 2000.
Although Medicaid was intended as a temporary safety net for those in poverty, just 37 percent of Illinois enrollees were in poverty in 2010, up from 51 percent of enrollees in 2002.
The number of uninsured has grown to 1.9 million Illinoisans, or 14.7 percent of the population, in 2011. That’s up from 1.6 million people, or 12.4 percent of the population, in 2002.
Illinois has among the most health insurance mandates in the region.
Illinois has among the highest health insurance premiums in the region.

Education

Illinois Chicago Medicaid Barack Obama Detroit Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program