respublica

Illinois losing population right and left

New Census data show Illinois is the only state in the nation to see worsening population loss for seven straight years. Illinois recorded population loss for the seventh year in a row, which is the longest streak of population decline in state history.

And what could possibly be the reason for this? Why are people leaving Illinois?  Well,

Researchers point out this data represents the first full year of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s policy agenda – including 20 tax and fee hikes, a minimum wage increase and a push for a progressive income tax.

I can certainly understand and even identify with this as a reason even though we just moved back to Illinois.

Now is when we miss Senator Coburn

When Tom Coburn was in the Senate he was known for his annual Waste Book which was filled with spending items he considered ridiculous pork. These items were put in by other congressional members to satisfy some of their constituents. Well, yesterday the latest Covid 19 relief bill was passed and not only was money put in to help those people who really need it, but many absurd monies as well.

The worst, in my mind, was 10,000 per race horse. Think of this. The workers get 600 dollars, race horses 10,000. This is justified because these horses are part of an important agricultural industry.

Also in this bill is a statement of policy “regarding the succession or reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.”

And, Congress more than doubled the budget for their own private health care clinic.

There is so much more like this and no Tom Coburn around to call them on it.

The headline of the day

This story headline wasn't necessarily meant to be humorous, but knowing Illinois, it struck me funny.

Illinois' Governor Begs Citizens To Let Government Tax Them Even More

Oh Illinois, just stop

As if taxes aren't high enough in Illinois and things which are taxed aren't numerous enough, leave it to one lawmaker to propose a law making it illegal to pump your own gas. This is coming from State Rep, Camille Lilly of Oak Park. It must be that our state reps have run out of real work to do.

If passed, the bill would create the Gas Station Attendant Act. It states that no gas may be pumped at a gas station in Illinois unless it is pumped by a gas station attendant.

It would go into effect Jan. 1, 2021.

Here's the thing. Some drivers need help pumping gas, but there are stations which have an attendant. What is bound to happen is the price of a gallon of gas will go up in Illinois because of this. Stations will have to hire more people to provide this service which means adding wages and thus raising the price of the gas. And, Illinois gas prices are already too high mainly because of the taxes put on.

More and more people will make a point to gas up in Missouri, Iowa or Indiana depending on where they live. In many cases this is already true. I haven't actually found a news story which explains Camille Lilly's reason for this legislation.

 

Illinois' big new year

A couple of things of interest to those who live in Illinois, and that will be us come next summer.

New taxes and fees on driving will add up to 1.98 Billion dollars. That's new taxes on top of taxes already in effect. This is outrageous. Supposedly all this new money will be used to prop up infrastructure. Where have we heard this before.  You can see the new taxes for drivers here.

These taxes may have something to do with this figure: Illinois has lost more population over the pasts decade than any other state. A large percentage of that drop came just over the last year as the state's population lost more than 51,000 people between 2018 and 2019 alone.

Rebuild Illinois is Governor Pritzger's new motto. But rebuild for whom?

To make this work, there must be a need for people to pay them and those people need jobs. Illinois' job growth is going down fast. Last month alone Illinois saw 17,200 jobs lost. In Missouri last month showed a gain of 11,310 jobs. Here is a list of all the states showing jobs lost or gained.

Gas prices

This is in aid of nothing really, but we found it interesting. As we left the campus last night heading for Ted Drewes to get our Christmas tree, we passed numerous gas stations. The first was the Big Amoco famous for its huge sign and continuing on past stations on McCausland and Jamison. The prices ranged from 34 cents a gallon to 25 to 33 to 31 and 25 again.  Each being 2 dollars and change. We thought those were quite the variation in price for such a short distance between each one.

It had to have something to do with what municipality each station was in and the taxes each required. Still, 2.34 cents a gallon was certainly lower than what we saw in Collinsville yesterday.

As to Ted Drewes, it was packed with people. We innocently believed that after a long day of various church things, leaving at 5:30 after a beautiful Advent service put on by our students, the crowds would be less than during the day. We were so wrong. There were long lines at all the frozen custard windows, cars parked everywhere, and many other people looking for trees. But we found our tree immediately which is rare.

I was reminded by Facebook yesterday that on the same date in 2012 we were again at Ted Drewes getting our tree. The photo made me happy and sad all at the same time.

We often took Ferdie with us to get our tree at Ted Drewes. I miss him so much, especially seeing this picture with him and a smile.

 

Want a reason for the exodus from Illinois?

This is a very informative opinion column on Illinois taxes from the Chicago Tribune's Kristen McQueary.

"The typical retort when taxpayers gripe about taxation is to point out the services rendered in exchange. Public schools, public safety, park districts and libraries largely are funded through local property taxes. So quit your whining.

But that isn’t the whole story in Illinois, Chicago or Cook County, where property tax hikes levied and collected increasingly are being swallowed up by pension costs for retired workers, health care costs for active workers and debts accumulated to patch up unbalanced budgets. Property owners and income tax payers are getting the same or fewer services while their tax bills climb and their property values remain stagnant."

"Acquiring debt is too cavalier a process in most government spending bills. The state’s $45 billion capital spending plan, approved last spring, includes money toward a highway interchange for a Peotone airport, pickleball courts, dog parks and bike paths. Meanwhile the state is sitting on a pile of $5.8 billion in bills it cannot pay, and its combined unfunded pension liability climbed recently to $137 billion."

Welcome to Indiana, Missouri and Iowa Illinois folks.

Thank you everyone who voted for this guy

Too often being elected to something makes a person greedy. So it is with Illinois governor, JB Pritzker who has not only signed a huge bill with nine tax and fee hikes worth 45 billion dollars as part of his budget address, including the graduated tax. His recently released capital plan adds another 10 that would ask Illinoisans to pay $2.4 billion more.

The new 2.4 billion will raise taxes on booze, beer and cider by 50 percent making Illinois among the highest booze tax rates in the country. Couple that with the doubling of the fuel tax and income tax and the people of that state will basically be working for taxes.

I'd guess this doesn't bode all that well for businesses that sell these things located near the boundary of neighboring states. If it's possible to get gas and beer or wine across the way, who wouldn't. Some places will just throw in the towel.

Currently Illinois beer tax is 23 cents per gallon, third highest in the country. Missouri tax is .03 and Indiana is .12.  Illinois wine tax is 1.39, Missouri-.42 and Indiana .47

The hard liquor Illinois tax is currently 8.55  Missouri 2.00 and Indiana 2.68

If you are near one of the other states, why not buy your beer and spirits and gas while you're there?

 

The new Illinois Capitol Bill

There is a new spending bill being introduced beginning in East St. Louis today by Governor J.B. Pritzker. He will be "touting" a massive infrastructure program. He is going to sign the state’s $45 billion Rebuild Illinois Capital a six-year program aimed at fixing roads and state facilities, among other things, according to sources with knowledge of the governor’s tentative schedule.

And where is all this money going to be coming from? "In order to pay for the statewide capital and infrastructure investment, the General Assembly passed an increase in gas taxes, vehicle registration, the cigarette tax, and a gaming expansion which includes sports betting."

The gas tax is going to double beginning Sunday going from 19 cents a gallon to 38 cents. That is one big increase and look for more people to head over to Missouri or Indiana to buy gas whenever possible. The entire list of projects is here. But one of the more wasteful uses of this money is for urban farming in East St. Louis.

I mean, come on. My experience with urban farming, those neighborhood community gardens, is that they start off well in spring, but by mid-summer and beyond they have turned into a huge overgrown weed patch. No one bothers to tend them once it's done. Each year at the start of the seminary's school year we send out all the first year students and many staff people to clean up those gardens. It's a great experience really, and brings the new class together. I've gone each year and take pictures of before and after. But it still bugs the heck out of me that these urban gardens are left to rot in almost all cases.

So why allocate money for this.

Here are a couple of those gardens we worked.

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/politics-government/article231975582.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/politics-government/article231975582.html#storylink=cpy

The taxers are always a step ahead

Looks like many states aren't satisfied with the amount of money brought in by the gas taxes and a few are now considering a 'vehicle miles traveled' fee. Also known as a '   mileage-based user fee'.    Fee is a laugh, it's still a tax and cost us more. Delaware and Pennsylvania will be testing this idea out with 1000  volunteer drivers. They will be given a device which will track their miles and at the end of each month will be sent a 'faux invoice'.

The only issue the people behind this test haven't figured out yet is how to make sure future drivers will pay the bills they get. Also if this become law or general practice, we'll also be paying for the devices and who knows what all else. Government never has enough money.