Sangamon Sun

State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Jacksonville) laments little ever seems to change among Springfield Democrats.

“It’s amazing that with all the horrible decisions our government has clearly made, they’re still taking the position that it’s all the fault of the taxpayer,” McClure told the Sangamon Sun. “It’s always something along the lines of you’re not paying not. The reality is no matter how the state takes in the general assembly will find a way to waste it all the way it always does.”

McClure frets it all comes with a price, namely people leaving the state in droves for friendlier taxing environments.  

“If Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker gets his way with his progressive tax things will only be worse,” he added. “I think everyone is starting to see that now.”

A new report by the Tax Foundation details how the state’s competitive position would dramatically fall if the progressive tax proposal Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been pushing since his days as a candidate becomes law. If the measure passes, researchers report Illinois’ overall ranking would tumble all the way down to 47th in the U.S. for business competitiveness, ahead of only New Jersey, California and New York.

“People are running out of reasons to be here,” McClure added. “The flat tax is one of the few remaining incentives and now that could be on the chopping block.”

McClure argues it all comes down to the same thing it always seems to with Springfield Democrats.

“They want as much power as they can get when it comes to creating ways to tax,” he said. “For Democrats it’s all ideological, the one thing they fight for more than anything else.”

For the tax the governor continues to insist will only mean higher rates for the state’s wealthiest residents to pass the bill requires 60% support at the ballot box next month or a majority from those who vote in the election overall.