SPRINGFIELD (Feb. 17, 2016) – Illinois Policy Institute CEO John Tillman released the following statement in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Budget Address, delivered today:

“Illinoisans are demanding a new direction for the state. Voters were presented with two choices in November 2014: A governor who had raised taxes and vowed to do it again, versus a political outsider who campaigned on a platform of big, dramatic policy changes. Illinois voted against the status quo. Illinois voted against more tax increases. Illinoisans voted for change.

“Yet last spring, lawmakers rejected the governor’s reforms and instead sent him a budget that relied on more than $3 billion in tax increases. This is the same crowd who, today, is bemoaning the lack of a state budget. The same crowd who looked out for itself before looking out for others by enacting a law allowing lawmakers to get paid even in the absence of a state budget. And instead of enacting the reforms touted by the voters’ chosen candidate, these same politicians have instead chosen to hold hostage social service agencies and the state’s most vulnerable citizens until the governor abandons his platform.

“It’s time for politicians in Springfield to wake up. Illinoisans don’t want more tax increases. They don’t want things to stay the same. Just last week, Gallup released a poll showing that 42 percent of Illinoisans would permanently move to another state if given the chance – making Illinois residents the third-most-likely in the nation to want to move. It isn’t just talk; people are actually packing up and moving away. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that outmigration from Illinois accelerated each year under the 2011 tax increase. Over the last decade, Illinois has lost 700,000 residents on net to other states.

“By blocking the governor’s reforms, politicians are ignoring the voice of Illinoisans. We voted at the ballot box. Voters chose the guy who said he would enact big reforms before reaching into their wallets for another tax increase. Every day, people are voting with their feet when they cross the border and move to other states where their economic prospects are better.

“The first step in a long journey of turning around Illinois is making a commitment to not spend more than state government takes in. It is immoral for lawmakers to come back to taxpayers for more money without even attempting reform. Send a balanced budget to the governor’s desk, or give him the power to balance the budget himself. Then start enacting the bold policy changes that will restore Illinois to economic prosperity.”