Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) | repbailey.com
Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) | repbailey.com
Illinois state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) points to the findings of a new Kiplinger report that the state now ranks as the “least tax-friendly” in the country as another example of just how much Democrats in Springfield have lost their way.
“We've got a situation here in Illinois where the other side is refusing to deal with reality because, I believe, they don’t think it personally behooves them,” Bailey told the SE Illinois News. “They’ve been taxing and spending for so long that I think they believe the only way to stay in power is by continuing to do it.”
The Klipinger report finds that all of that taxing and spending comes with a hefty cost. The business and economic forecasting publication wrote that things like residents being forced to pay much more in taxes to the government than taxpayers in other states and a property tax system where rates are now the second highest in the country are at the root of all the state's negative reviews.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker
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“I don’t know what their end game is,” Bailey said of Democratic lawmakers. “It’s gotten so bad that I don’t see how things can start to turn around unless voters step up in this 2020 election. Without that, things are probably going to have to hit bottom where we can’t make our payments, are facing bankruptcy or the federal government has to step in for them to really change.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker is now pushing a progressive tax system that would mean a change to the state’s existing flat 4.95-percent tax rate and higher rates for those earning upwards of $250,000. Adopting the new formula would require a change to the state constitution and the question will be on the ballot for voters in the form of a referendum in November 2020.
“It’s the taxpayers that are losing out while politicians are sticking to this message that you’ve got to tax everything,” Bailey said. “Every time the state’s debt gets higher, the tax mound of residents gets higher and higher.”
Kiplinger based its rankings on the tax burden of a “hypothetical middle-class family” in all 50 states and Washington D.C.
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