The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...
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.
Springfield lawmakers have yet to learn the lesson that money walks. And it’s not just to other states. Sometimes, it walks past the legal dispensary with a 40% tax rate and into a dealer’s house.
Red-light cameras are taking more and more money from Illinois motorists. But dubious safety benefits, a cloud of corruption and a bipartisan bill in Springfield may combine to take them off the streets.
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.
If Illinois is going to compete with its neighbors – and keep people from moving out of the state – it must reduce the enormous property tax burden its families are forced to bear. Following the lead of surrounding states by enacting collective bargaining reforms is one good place to start.
Illinois’ Prevailing Wage Act has no place in the 21st century. Policymakers should enact fair and competitive construction laws that give all individuals who are willing to work a fighting chance.
While government worker unions have had a stranglehold on the people of Illinois for far too long, the state isn’t without hope. Illinois can follow the lead of other Midwestern states and enact labor reforms.