The newly re-elected House speaker is pushing a new tax on businesses, an increase to the minimum wage and more spending, while doing nothing to address salient problems such as workers’ compensation and pension debt.
For each percentage point drop in the private sector’s share of the state economy, Illinois household incomes fall by over $3,000 on average. Unfortunately for Illinoisans, the private sector’s share of the Illinois economy has dwindled as government’s share – enabled through tax-funded spending – has risen to 25 percent.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.