I hope you like cynicism. For years the Democrats and Republicans have fought over budgets. Remember “starve the beast?” Republicans thought they could reduce the size of government if they cut revenue sources. It didn’t work very well because both sides found ways to spend more. Well, Illinois found a way to make “starve the beast” work. It is just a little backwards. The Illinois Constitution compels keeping the existing pension systems. All our money seemingly go to the pension systems. Between 2000 and 2020 payments to the pension system grew by 501%. Spending on employee health care grew by 127%. During that same time overall spending grew only 15%. Spending on child protection, mental health, state police, college support for low income students and other socially valuable matters DROPPED by almost one-third. Thank-you government employees. You proved that the beast could be starved. We must amend our constitution.
Libertarian incrementalism does exist. If we cut real estate taxes, income taxes, gas taxes, cell phone taxes, corporate taxes and excise taxes by say 50%, I guarantee libertarians won’t be crying about taxes being theft. Obviously we can’t cut taxes without cutting spending. But, cutting taxes just might reverse the outflow of people from Illinois. Our economy might just boom. Texas and Florida have high taxes here or there, but not across the board. The Tax Foundation says that Illinois has the 3rd highest corporate tax, the 5thhighest cell phone tax and the 10th highest local and sales tax. We compete with New Jersey for the absolute highest real estate taxes. People love Illinois; it is a wonderful place to live. But, they don’t love the high cost of living and the high taxes. Sorry, I am not going to say this nicely. Government employees: “IT’S YOU VERSES US.”