Rejecting a progressive income tax would spare Illinoisans from Connecticut’s sorry fate.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker inherited a $2.8 billion budget deficit the moment he stepped into office. Next year, that deficit is projected to be $3.4 billion1. It’s the same story every budget season. But Illinois’ budget crises could be a thing of the past if the state would adopt pension reform, right-size its union contracts and...

Reversing the state’s outmigration of residents and encouraging the job creation Illinoisans need to thrive – and the state needs for stable revenues – require lawmakers to rein in government overspending and resist calls for tax hikes that would further depress Illinois’ economic growth.

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.

Illinois taxpayers are fed up and overtaxed. Residents have little faith that their governments are spending their tax dollars well – and for good reason. The state’s most recent spending plan is out of balance by as much as $1.5 billion, and includes $54.2 million in wasteful spending and $27 million in pork-barrel spending. The...

Illinois should take steps toward more accurate and frequent property assessments to ensure the tax burden is distributed as fairly as possible.

With one proposal to pay off Illinois’ pension debt asking the typical homeowner to pay more than $1,900 in additional property taxes for the next 30 years, the stakes for pension reform have never been clearer.

States with a progressive income tax see greater income inequality, and have seen income inequality rise faster than states without a progressive income tax.

If Illinois adopted Virginia’s spending habits along with policies that can reduce costs and raise home values, the Prairie State could vastly reduce the property tax burden that Illinois homeowners currently face.