Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) fears that an IRS study finding that Illinois lost more than 86,000 residents at a gross adjusted income cost of nearly $5 billion over just a 12-month period could be just the tip of the iceberg.
“Nearly everyone I speak to has their exit strategy from Illinois,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal. “They set out markers for their departure – retirement, kids graduating from school or when their elderly parents pass on. “We can no longer continue to increase taxes and fees, and every politician at every level of government needs to work together to reduce spending.”
Recently, a Paul Simon Public Policy Institute survey found that nearly 50 percent of all Illinois residents now want to leave the state, with runaway taxes being cited as the No. 1 reason. Data composed by the IRS also found the cash-strapped state experienced a loss of nearly 42,000 tax returns to other states over 2015-16, equating to an all-time high in lost exemptions.
Researchers noted millennials are leading the charge for greener pastures, with the top 10 states to which Illinois lost population being Florida (12,800 exemptions gained from Illinois on net), Texas (9,400), Indiana (8,200), California (7,600), Arizona (6,400), Wisconsin (6,000), Colorado (4,700), Georgia (4,200), Tennessee (3,600) and North Carolina (2,700).
“I tell people that if you change out the politicians you change policy and then Illinois' potential can be unleashed,” Ives, who is running against Gov. Bruce Rauner in the 2018 Republican primary, said. “We can have an economic renaissance in Illinois like what has occurred in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.”
Since launching her campaign, Ives has regularly blasted Rauner over what she characterizes as his failed reform agenda.
In a press release, Ives recently pointed to a Wall Street Journal article that detailed how Rauner ran on a reform agenda in 2014 that has largely never materialized.
“The report in the Wall Street Journal, one of the most reputable and well-respected newspapers in the nation, dramatically highlights Benedict Rauner’s betrayals on his fiscal promises,” she added in the release.
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