Macon Reporter

A downstate Illinois lawmaker argues that nothing about Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s progressive income tax plan adds up, unless you count all of the state's highest earners packing up and leaving.

“High income earners are extremely mobile people, all they need to do business is an internet connection,” Illinois state Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) told the Chambana Sun. “This makes states with low or no personal income tax very appealing, this is the outmigration. I believe that states with high or graduated taxes will continue to suffer a loss of population.”

The latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau lend strong support to Halbrook’s theory. With taxes already named as the top reason why Illinoisans are moving away, Pritzker’s progressive income tax would add $3.4 billion to the burden of those earning $250,000 or more at a time when census data shows that demographic to be the one leaving the fastest. In addition, the state is losing more than twice as many wealthy residents as it is gaining, and over the last decade has lost at least $32 billion in income from those who have left the state in search of more affordable lifestyles.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

“If a graduated income tax is implemented in Illinois, it will continue to erode the family and business climate,” Halbrook said. “We need to reform Springfield by reducing spending and borrowing and further implement reforms that untie the hands of families and employers by allowing them to thrive, not punish them.”