by Jesus Alaniz
In 1817 President James Madison wrote “The people of the U. S. owe their Independence & their liberty, to the wisdom of descrying in the minute tax of 3 pence on tea, the magnitude of the evil comprised in the precedent. Let them exert the same wisdom, in watching against every evil lurking under plausible disguises, and growing up from small beginnings.” Obsta principiis (Withstand beginnings; resist the first approaches or encroachments). IL State Rep Mary E. Flowers (D) proposes HB0106, Financial Transaction Tax ($60 Billion Taxes/5 Years), IL State Rep Michael Madigan (D), proposes HJRCA0026 Millionaires Tax ($5 Billion Taxes/5 Years), Ill State Rep Representative Robyn Gabel (D) proposes HB2667 Sweet Beverage Tax ($3 Billion Taxes/5 Years), IL State Rep Arthur Turner (D) proposes a $550 Million/5 Years Satellite TV Tax, and IL Sen. Don Harmon (D) has proposed SJRCA 0001 Progressive Income Tax ($34.5 Billion/5 Years). Republican voters don’t start salivating just yet. IL State Senator Chapin Rose (R) has proposed SB1661 – a Fireworks Tax ($50 Million Taxes/5 Years) for a total $103.1 Billion in new taxes over the next 5 years and on top of the doubled tollway taxes, increased driver’s license and license plate fees. State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, is said to have proposed a 3.75 percent tax on guns and gun parts. “When asked how much revenue it would raise, she said she didn’t know but thought “if we can get a good million or so, I’ll take it”” and don’t let anyone fool you, Republicans can easily flip after elections, case in point, IL Senator Dave Syverson (R), Rockford, who reportedly called for a state income tax increase “now that the elections were over”.
These “lawmakers” will tell you that that’s what’s needed to address the deficit. They purposely don’t tell you that the state’s income deficiency was cause by people leaving the state to escape Springfield’s taxes. One report states that Illinois lost 40,000 people in 2009 and that between 1995 and 2009 IL lost 806,000 people. It is also reported that people took $1.5 billion in taxable income in 2009 when they left and that Illinois lost $26 billion in taxable income to out-migration between 1995 and 2009 alone. Springfield’s solution? Create new taxes to replace the taxes that were lost due to people escaping Springfield’s high taxes.
As Illinois seeks new taxes, companies seek incentives to stay, taxpayers look for tax breaks and working families look to the state for help and relief to make ends meet from Springfield’s tax side effects. Confusion then reigns and as French author & economist Frédéric Bastiat put it “Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state lives at the expense of everyone. The unfortunate state, like Figaro, knows neither to whom to listen nor where to turn.” It is said that clever people solve problems, wise people avoid them. It would be wise for Springfield to stop chasing citizens away and stop creating new taxes.
References:
Illinois politicians propose $100B in tax hikes over next 5 years
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-politicians-propose-100b-in-tax-hikes-over-next-5-years/
Still leaving Illinois: An exodus of people and money
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/still-leaving-illinois-an-exodus-of-people-and-money/
Syverson First Republican Legislator to Call for State Income Tax Increase
