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Tax Relief?

Yesterday Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative Democrats held a news conference publicizing coming tax relief. To say this is a modest bit of relief is putting it mildly. They were thrilled enough about this to hold a press conference, but in reality the amount of tax relief is minuscule.

A suspension of the 1 percent sales tax on groceries through June 2023.  This amounts to one cent off a dollar or ten cents off of ten dollars spent. The motor fuel tax break would save 22 cents on ten gallons of gas.

There are other tax breaks or tax credits which may be helpful. But not all that much.

• An income tax rebate of $50 per individual with income below $200,000 a year, or $100 for couples filing jointly with income below $400,000 a year, plus $100 per dependent child, up to three children.

Meanwhile New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham also put out a press release yesterday with much better tax help. Single households that do not have any dependents will receive a $500 payment, and married couples will pocket $1,000. She raised Pritzker's ten cents and raised it by a lot.

Illinois gas taxes

We in Illinois are very aware of how much gas costs in this state. So how much of price of each gallon goes to taxes?

"The federal government levies a tax of 18.4 cents on every gallon of gas sold to American motorists. On top of the federal gas tax, as of January 2022, Illinois levied an additional tax of 59.6 cents per gallon – the second highest gas tax among states.Including the federal tax, taxes account for 17.3% of the average price of a gallon of gas in the state." Only California is higher.

Compare this to our neighbor Missouri where total tax per gallon is 19.9 cents. No wonder so many are tempted to fill up across the river.

More Illinois taxes coming

Illinois powers that be have never found something they can't tax. They (we) have the highest tax rates in the country, the second highest property taxes, among the highest gas rates, and now they've added one more.

Illinois people have been paying the highest taxes and fees for cell phone usage and it is going to go up.

How lucky are we?

Tricks on Halloween candy

A lot of candy is being sold right now with Halloween coming on Sunday. Candy will be given out in big numbers even before that day, so many communities, schools and churches are putting on Halloween walks with all kinds of groups giving out treats. Collinsville will be having one on Saturday.

But, it seems that Illinois has found another way to tax us more, this time with candy sales. Surprisingly there are two types of candy and one is taxed 6 times higher than the other. In Illinois candy made with some flour is not taxed as high as those that are not, flour makes them considered food. Who knew flour went into candy? Kit Kats, Cookies and Cream and Twix are three candies not taxed as high as a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar or a Snickers.

Treats made with flour are taxed at 1 percent and candy without flour are taxed at 6.25 percent.

Too bad I shopped for candy yesterday before reading this article. But, what I found in the stores was lots and lots of candy still for sale. But, the type most kids like the most these days, sour, are not to be seen. At least where I was.

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.