The state is attempting to shore up its supply of personal protection equipment, but received millions of masks the state health department recommended only using in a crisis.
Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker touting growth in “every major region,” Illinois shed jobs in three metropolitan areas and lagged the national average in seven more.
Without reforms that level the playing field between the public and private sectors, the cost of Illinois’ public sector workers will continue to damage the state’s labor market, economy and taxpayers.
While J.B. Pritzker has not released a detailed tax plan of his own, reasonable cost estimates suggest the tax hike required to pay for the candidate’s spending promises would require doubling Illinois’ state income tax rate and cost the state an estimated 132,000 jobs and $31.3 billion in forgone GDP.
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.