The Democrat-led legislature and Gov. JB Pritzker are once again following the lead of other blue states as they look to implement their own tax-the-rich proposal, which tries to raise more revenue without encouraging the very taxpayers generating it to leave.
A constitutional amendment to add a 3% surcharge on income of $1 million and more is being considered. I urge my fellow citizens to reject this idea as we successfully defeated Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax amendment in 2020.
What has changed since 2020? Our government leaders have been on a spending binge — lacking fiscal discipline. Since Pritzker has been governor, total state spending has increased by approximately 43%, or nearly $16 billion, without meaningful government reform.
Raising taxes without providing better services and demonstrating a good return on investment is bad policy. Tax policy should be proportional rather than punitive — punishing high earners contradicts principles of personal productivity. Public policy that leads to nonpersonal productivity is harmful to the state and detrimental to the well-being of the person. The state is experiencing rising unemployment and a loss of payroll jobs.
Higher taxes could drive those who are mobile, including high earners and businesses, out of the state. For every high-income earner who moves into Illinois, two leave, a 2024 study by the Internal Revenue Service found. States such as Illinois, California, Minnesota, New Jersey and New York have been losing high earners for years, which is undermining their economies.
The lost income in Illinois from all out-migration, not just high earners, was about $9.85 billion in recent years, according to IRS data from 2021 and 2022. The report shows Illinois with the worst record of retaining people who make $200,000 or more per year and, probably just as unsurprising, Florida with the best.
Massachusetts’ own millionaire tax of a 4% surcharge has caused the state to lose billions of dollars in income, IRS data shows. From 2022 to 2023, nearly 30,000 residents who left Massachusetts took a net $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income with them. Top earners accounted for a majority of total income outflow. Many of the high-income households leaving Massachusetts are relocating to lower-tax states such as Florida and New Hampshire.
The state of Indiana has benefited from unwise policy decisions in Springfield and Chicago. Indiana leaders openly welcome Illinois residents to purchase gas, groceries and other items that are much lower. In 2022, a net 17,000 residents moved from Illinois to Indiana. Leaders in Indiana are making their state more desirable by making it affordable.
Recently, the governor of Indiana cut the state’s gas tax for 30 days. At those gas stations just across the border, you will find more cars with Illinois license plates than with Indiana plates. It is no wonder that Indiana closed fiscal year 2025 with a $676 million surplus and billions in reserves. Our leaders would be wise to study states that are growing revenue without proposing regressive taxes.
Illinois politicians should be cutting taxes, not raising them with the promise of property tax relief and more funding for education. The Illinois legislature set up the unfair predatory, regressive property tax system. A tax on millionaires will not fix it. I do not mind paying my fair share of taxes. However, Illinois leaders do not have a positive track record of being good stewards of our hard-earned tax dollars.
I give my company’s profits to churches, gas and grocery customers, detainees at the Cook County Department of Corrections, homeowners for property taxes and other charitable causes to provide direct aid to people.
The proposed tax will encourage those making just over $1 million to hire accountants and find deductions to avoid paying.
The following are suggestions that would help save money and grow our tax base:
- Pritzker should suspend or cut the gas tax to provide immediate relief to families.
- Legislative leaders should pass legislation to increase paid skill-based youth apprenticeships and expand partnerships between employers, community colleges and community-based organizations.
- Legislative leaders should prioritize resources for youths in arrears with limited access to economic opportunities.
- Legislative leaders should require young students be trained in trade programs before they graduate.
- Legislative leaders should reduce the number of townships and school districts.
- Legislative leaders should cut the corporate tax rate.
Affordability starts with accountability for policies such as unsustainable pensions, a failing education system and a predatory property tax system that cause people to lose their homes and equity.
A surcharge on millionaires would not put Illinois’ fiscal house in order. Since 1985, the Illinois Lottery has contributed over $25 billion to the state’s K-12 public education system. Unfortunately, we have children who graduate and cannot read, write or do basic math. Illinois leaders must be willing to confront their endless appetite for spending, generous pensions and administrative efficiencies.
Stop keeping up with the Joneses. Let’s flip the script and put polices in place that reward entrepreneurship and productivity — this is how we put our fiscal house in order.
I write this commentary to make those comfortable with raising taxes on productive people and businesses uncomfortable.
Willie Wilson is a business owner, philanthropist and former mayoral candidate.
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