More on Illinois: Tax Until You Drop, And They Probably Will

We told you here two days ago that Illinois lawmakers were seriously considering tax increases of 75% on individual income and 49% on corporations. Well, good news for the residents of the land that might more closely resemble its nickname (Prairie State) in the coming years as those increases were lowered to 67% and 30%, respectively.

Governor Pat Quinn is expected to sign the legislation to help stem an ever-growing budget deficit. The state anticipates it will raise an additional $6.5 billion in revenue in 2011. But do those projections take into account the companies and the families that will be fleeing for points near (Indiana) and far?

We hinted earlier that Indiana would need to be ready to roll out the welcome mat for those defectors. A brief conversation with someone from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (and public comments from Mitch Roob) confirmed that an aggressive marketing plan is in the works along with additional personnel in Northwest Indiana and focused efforts in Terre Haute, Evansville, etc.

The Tax Foundation reports the moves (if part of the 2011 evaluation) would drop the Illinois tax climate from No. 23 to No. 36. Indiana, by the way, is a solid No. 10.

Here’s the Tax Foundation brief on the impacts of the spend, spend, tax and spend some more plan in Illinois.

Bob Speaks; We Should Listen

I do not know Bob Anderson of Wonder Lake, Illinois. But Bob makes a lot of sense.

His comments in a recent letter to the editor to a suburban Chicago newspaper are right on target — whether one resides in his home state or back home in Indiana.

We’ve been saying the same thing in various forms for the past six years or so. And we’ll continue to say it, and with the help of Hoosiers who simply don’t understand how Indiana can afford a malfunctioning system of government.

For today, the floor is Bob Anderson’s. Let’s hold up our end of his argument (If they can do it, so can we). Here are his words:

Recently, House Speaker Michael Madigan introduced a Constitutional amendment to abolish the position of Illinois’ office of lieutenant governor.

Rep. Jack Franks has also called for the abolition of the office. Gov. Pat Quinn, a former lieutenant governor, states the position is useless.

Now, in the 21st century, the township form of government is also useless.

If Gov. Quinn, Speaker Madigan and Rep. Franks want to show real leadership they should work to introduce a Constitutional amendment to abolish obsolete township government in Illinois.

Illinois has 1,433 township governments in addition to 1,395 road districts that are outmoded, duplicative, inefficient, and most of all, costly.

Township government is an outdated vestige of a once useful government established in the 1800s to help farmers and settlers when 98 percent of the population lived in rural areas.

There is pending legislation in Indiana to abolish their townships. If they can do it, so can we.

Townships should be eliminated, with the transfer of their duties to general purpose governments – counties and municipalities. This would simplify the election process, improve services and reduce cost of local government.