“Illinois families will pay the highest combined state and local tax burden in the nation this year on the median U.S. income. That’s $13,099, which will consume more than 16.5% of their money,” says the Illinois Policy Institute:
Illinois will impose the nation’s highest state and local taxes on residents in 2025, costing each household $13,099 – or more than 16.5% of their annual income – a new WalletHub report found.
Illinois households earning the median U.S. income of $79,004 will face the highest taxes in the nation. Those taxes will be $4,472 higher than the national average, or nearly 52% more. Illinois is surrounded by states with lower tax rates, a driving factor behind the continued loss of Illinoisans that has only recently been offset by involuntary and other relocation by international migrants.
A move to Iowa, the neighboring state with the next-highest combined state and local tax rate, would save an Illinois family $2,715 on that $79,004 U.S. median household income. A move to Missouri, which boasts the lowest combined tax rate among Illinois’ neighbors, would save the family $5,315.
Over 50% of Illinois voters polled said they would move out of state if given the chance, citing high taxes as the main reason.
Progressive Illinois has much higher taxes than neighboring Indiana, whose taxes are $4,050 less per household. Yet conservative Indiana provides better roads (it ranks #2 in road quality, compared to Illinois being only #30), and Indiana processes people’s tax returns much faster and more accurately than Illinois does, and has a better criminal justice system. Illinois should be able to better than Indiana, because it is much more fortunate than Indiana (Illinois contains wealthy Chicago suburbs that generate lots of tax revenue. Indiana lacks similarly populous wealthy areas to finance it.)
But somehow, Illinois has managed to run up vastly higher levels of debt than Indiana. Illinois has at least $70 billion in debt (and $144 billion in unfunded pension obligations), compared to $30 billion in state debt for Indiana.
“Illinois’ public pensions are worst funded in U.S.,” noted the Illinois Policy Institute. Illinois is showering taxpayer money on left-wing public-employee unions that help elect Democrats. When Illinois began paying illegal aliens’ healthcare costs, it cost far more than the state expected,
Violent crime has risen in Chicago as only 13% of violent criminals are arrested.
An Illinois commission recommended paying bonuses to colleges that enroll students with low GPAs.
Thousands of Chicago school laptops ended up in China, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
