44 Comments - yeah - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 12:58 pm: Indiana should rank lower, however, the Tax Foundation likes to overlook the County Income Tax paid. Indiana’s income tax is much higher when this is factored in, but it is a State by State comparison, but not a very fair one. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:03 pm: Taxes are just cripplin’ Illinois, just cripplin’ Illinois. The best way for Illinois to get out of bein’… dead 23rd… in the country… is to end prevailin’ wage and eliminate collective bargainin’… Right? Exactly right. I guess the other 26 or so states are “more cripplin’… “? - Anon221 - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:25 pm: OW- Don’t forget the Re-Forms!! Gotta have that redistrictin’ and term limits, too!!! - Anonymous - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:55 pm: Let’s see……who benefits from doom and gloom forecast, lower bond ratings? Motivation to promote a dire financial state? - Liandro - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 1:58 pm: Without looking at the methodology, I have to ask: can this ranking be matched against total future liabilities? You’re absolutely right that an uncertain fiscal future weights heavily on business minds when deciding where to invest…and Illinois precarious position isn’t exactly a secret. If you completely removed that (impossible) and guaranteed are current tax structure, that would be a different scenario entirely. No one who is paying attention is planning their future with any knowledge of what Illinois is going to do next… - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:02 pm: Yeah, how do the real estate taxes and sales taxes in Indiana compare to Illinois? - Consideration - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:22 pm: Illinois sales tax rate = 6.25% Indiana sales tax rate = 7.0% Indiana’s sales tax was recently raised to 7% from 6% in 2008 to make up for lower property taxes. - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:40 pm: Consideration, I don’t know where you live in IL but sales taxes are nowhere near 6.25% in Chicagoland and are not that low in Central IL - Anon - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:42 pm: I don’t know why y’all let politicians repeatedly claim that Illinois is the worst state for taxes when every multi-state study shows it’s not that bad. I worry that our leaders actually believe some of the things we they say. Sure — the property tax could be better, but we get there by fixing the income tax. - X-prof - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:00 pm: Overall, IL is … … a real tax haven for the wealthy whose property and sales taxes are small as a fraction of their income, … about average for upper-middle class tax-payers, and … a high-tax state for middle class and lower taxpayers. Aside from being unfair, this profile causes revenue shortfalls because an increasing share of the state’s income flows to the first group. If we fix this regressive profile the state’s fiscal problems will become manageable. There are no other solutions without this. - qualified someone nobody sent - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:04 pm: 46th worst in property taxes! 50th in percentage of State dollars of total public education costs. This is a direct result of Illinois being a flat, low rate income tax State. Regressive State tax policies are a large contributing factor the the erosion of the middle class in Illinois. Cook County residents see 67% of their property tax bill go to education! When will Illinois join the 21st Century economy and tax services which makes up a majority of all economic activity in the State? When will the State actually pay for its responsibility to educate our children? When will the State exact an progressive income tax based on the ability to pay instead of a very low 3.75% rate that only benefits the wealthy who live in areas with outstanding public education already? These are the residents who are enjoying a 40 year period of wealth taken from our dissolving middle class and can certainly afford to pay more to benefit all Illinois residents. - RNUG - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:14 pm: == Cook County residents see 67% of their property tax bill go to education! == My percentage going to school and community college districts is a lot harder there than that. Only 67% sounds great! - Consideration - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:16 pm: Piece…You are comparing IL and IN Sales taxes - that’s the rates. If Chicago chooses to add in a municipality sales tax - that’s their issue - not the State’s. Indianapolis can do the same thing. - Earnest - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:19 pm: >So one can only wonder what impact an uncertain fiscal future has on the current biz climate. Amen to that. A stable, balanced budget would have more positive impact on the state than anything else we could do. Even though taxes will be higher and spending will be lower, it will allow businesses some certainty in their planning. The other thing is this: comparisons are fine and good, but the bottom line is that we need to pay back what we stole by skipping the pension payments. Until we accept that we have to do what we need to do to get to a stable, balanced budget, we’re nowhere near the real issues we should be debating, namely how much we spend and on what, and how much revenue we need and how we’ll generate it. Slightly OT, but on the subject of state rankings, Illinois continues its deplorable streak in terms of supporting people with developmental disabilities, coming in at 47th this year. http://cfi.ucp.org/state-scorecards/ - Lester Holt's Mustache - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:20 pm: This study can’t be correct. I have been told multiple times by several of the experts that populate the Capitol Fax comment section that Illinois is the worst place in the nation to do business because taxes on hard workin’ job creators are ridiculously high. Surely they weren’t just parroting Chamber and Bruce’s talking points. Was this study paid for by Mike Madigan? I bet it was Madigan. /s - illini - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:21 pm: @qualified - You are definitely to the point of this thread. Yet as Willy and Anon221 have said - “end prevailin’ wage and eliminate collective bargainin’…” and “Gotta have that redistrictin’ and term limits, too!!!” And that will solve everything. - Michelle Flaherty - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:22 pm: AND … Indianapolis (or the county) can add on a local income tax, too. And they do. Income taxes are higher in Indianapolis than Illinois. - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:23 pm: Sales tax in Chicago is 10.25%, the highest in the nation. - Consideration - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:24 pm: - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 2:40 pm: Consideration, I don’t know where you live in IL - Actually, the town I live in does stick with the 6.25% - as do most of the smaller towns in Illinois. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:30 pm: - Piece of Work - Explain the income tax provisions in Indiana. Is there only a state income tax? This is a short answer question. Thanks. - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:48 pm: I asked about sales taxes and real estate taxes in Indiana Willy. If you want to explain Indiana state income tax, the floor is yours - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:51 pm: Sales tax in Peoria is 8.5% Sales tax in Springfield is 8.5% Sales tax in Decatur is 9% Sales tax in Champaign is 9% - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 3:58 pm: - Piece of Work - So… you’re ignoring the income tax thingy because it ruins your narrative or… I’m confused, isn’t income tax also a factor. Rauner kept talking on and on about that 67% income tax increase, so in Indiana, don’t get tax income differently overall? Hmm. - Piece of Work - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:08 pm: I am assuming the Indiana state income tax is higher Willy, but rather than play games with cute little quips, why don’t you list it. Every time I see people saying the state income tax in IL is very low, they never address how high sales taxes are and how high real estate taxes are. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:12 pm: Oh - Piece of Work - You’re not a victim of the Sin of Omission, unless you want to keep ignoring your Sin of Omission. Wonder if this report included income tax… while you ignore it. Hmm. - PoW - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:18 pm: Why do I even address you Willy???? I guess I should ask you what you predict for your Cubbies in the postseason. - Robert the 1st - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:30 pm: Taxes in IL are far too low. Double the income tax to 7.5% and expand that to retirement income. Exempt the first $35,000 for people over 65. Problem solved. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:31 pm: I read that the last time a NL team had the best record in all of baseball and won the World Series it was the ‘86 Mets, thirty years ago. That didn’t help me. As Illinois being 23rd and income taxes being included, it appears, in this post isn’t helping your argument. So I think we both aren’t having stellar days. - illini - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:32 pm: Facts are stubborn things - there are many areas in Southern Illinois where the sales tax is comfortably in the 8% rate or higher. Thanks to the tax breaks given by our local leaders to lure the big box retail stores and developers all consumers are paying for these “incentives” when they shop locally and, I suspect, many do not even realize it. - PoW - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:33 pm: LOL Robert. Yep, that’s the answer. People residing in Cook County would buy you a beer over that proposal. - Steve Schnorf - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:33 pm: Piece, the review considered all tax factors in determining Illinois 23rd, right smack dab in the middle for business tax climate. - Robert the 1st - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 4:37 pm: PoW- we have to pay for our nice things. Nice things in other state might include superior social services or education. In IL, our nice things are massive pensions and early retirement for our government employees. We made our choice. Now we pay. - PoW - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 5:04 pm: So our pitch to new businesses is Illinois is average but just wait, you’ll see higher state income taxes, higher sewer/water taxes, ever increasing real estate taxes, (I hope they don’t notice the 10.5% sales tax) We are the state for you!! - Oswego Willy - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 5:22 pm: - Piece of Work - Your knees, lift with your knees when moving goal posts… Also, not one person seem “pleased” that I read. Not one. - Top of the State - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 8:28 pm: A colleague (DHS) is moving to California. She says that the state workers receive raises every six months. Another good state worker leaves IL as she doesn’t see a future here….. - Robert the 1st - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 8:32 pm: Hopefully she’s tier one. Just saved IL another couple million dollars that can be used for infrastructure or needy people. Another college grad will get a great job with above market pay and job security. Win win. - Demoralized - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 9:53 pm: Robert You’re a piece of work. The envy is just sad - Robert the 1st - Monday, Oct 3, 16 @ 10:41 pm: Stop being a victim D. Enjoy the state pension I’m trying to fund. - Piece of Work - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 7:49 am: Hey Demo, I am the only Piece of Work around here!! And BTW, Robert is 100% correct. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 8:33 am: The jealousy of state workers is palpable, and sad. I guess I’d ask the other 26 states below Illimois if being ranked 23rd and the middle of the pack is “ok” We’re “dead 23rd”. - PoW - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 8:41 am: 23rd is middle of the pack. If being average is what you want(at least today) then Illinois may be for you. My guess is that rating will more likely drop than rise. I believe most people are somewhat disturbed that many do not recognize what a sweetheart deal state workers have. It’s a great deal, admit it, no need to apologize for it, but call a spade a spade. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 8:45 am: That pesky Constituion makes it what if is. You can quit your job and work for the state at any time. Destroying labor will not make the “dead 23rd” ranking better. If it would, we would’ve seen the numbers. No one said it was great. Not one person. I was mocking that 26 states may want to trade places, keep up. - Robert the 1st - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 9:03 am: =That pesky Constituion makes it what if is.= The constitution doesn’t prevent Rauner from negotiating a tough, fair deal for taxpayers. Something everyone here despises him for. Considering the sweetheart pensions ARE protected by the constitution, many people don’t think Rauner is being tough enough in other areas of compensation. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Oct 4, 16 @ 9:10 am: ===…for taxpayers.=== State workers are taxpayers too. ===Something everyone here despises him for.=== That’s not true. I’ve said myself, “elevtions have consequences”. Said it many times. Rauner purposely going after Fair Share and targeting state workers, that’s just Rauner’s Af-Scammy persona too. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.