Sangamon Sun

The COVID-19 pandemic had a nationwide impact on many economic sectors and states are now in the process of recovery. With the third highest unemployment rate in the nation, Illinois’ economy is lagging behind other states compared to the national average. It is the belief of many Republican elected officials and candidates that current policies of high taxes and rigid regulations is the cause.

"Illinois’ economy and our workers continue to suffer under the mismanaged economy of Sue Scherer and the Democrats in Springfield," Lisa Smith, candidate for state representative of  District 96 wrote in an Aug. 26 Facebook post. "The high taxes and burdensome regulations that have made doing business in Illinois harder are now causing our economic recovery to lag behind neighboring states. With new economic numbers showing that Illinois’ unemployment rate is the third highest in the nation and the highest in the Midwest, the people of the 96th District deserve a representative in Springfield that will fight to cut taxes and limit regulations so that job creators and workers can stay here at home. We deserve better than the disastrous economic policies of Sue Scherer.”

As of August, this year, Illinois is 1.4% behind the nation in job recovery following the economic downturn in March of 2020, according to Illinois Policy. The state is still missing 89,000 jobs and has the third highest unemployment rate in the nation at 4.4%.

With policy decisions that have exacerbated the threat of recession, Illinois will be put in a difficult position as the flexibility of the state’s budget is minimal due to pension obligations and a $1.8 billion unemployment trust fund deficit, Illinois Policy reports.

Since the start of COVID-19, Illinois has spent nearly $5 billion fighting negative economic implications of lockdowns, according to Realms of Discordia. The $5 billion spent was a part of congress' State and Local Recovery Fund Relief Package approved by the Biden administration. The money was intended to stabilize state budgets and finance operating costs to maintain public service costs.

Data from the Tax Foundation shows that as of July 1, Illinois has a combined state and local tax rate of 8.73% ranking eighth in the nation. The state tax rate is 6.25% and the average local tax rate is 2.48%, which maxes out at 5.25%.

According to the Bureau of Economic Statistics, in 2020, Sangamon County ranked 13th in Illinois for Real GDP at 9,734,977 (thousands of chained 2012 dollars) down 6.5% from 2019.