Rep. David Harris (R-Arlington Heights) started off his point of personal privilege Tuesday on the House floor with yet another positive about the Prairie State, adding a little tongue-and-cheek humor.
“I know the turnstiles at the border only go one direction now and that is out, and our state will probably have depopulated in a year or two because of our tax burden, but I thought I would do a little bit of a comparison between Illinois and some other states,” Harris said on the House floor, keeping up his series of confident comments about the state during each floor debate.
Harris compared general revenue funds to equally populated states on Tuesday, continuing his string of asides that have included 80 new businesses created in Arlington Heights in 2017, Illinois’ low-income tax rate and 10 Illinois communities making the National Council for Home Safety and Security 100 Safest Cities in the U.S. list.
Though Harris started off Tuesday with recognizing Illinois suffered out-migration in 2017, he pointed out how compared to Ohio and Pennsylvania, states that also have an approximate population of around 12 million people, the Prairie State is not fairing too badly.
“Last year based on the actions that this Legislature took, we appropriated about $35.5 billion for our general revenue fund, and I trust you notice in the governor’s budget message he appropriated $37.8 billion, the full amount of what the tax revenue is bringing in, but let me turn back to Pennsylvania and Ohio,” Harris said.
According to Harris' research, Ohio and Pennsylvania also bring in approximately $35 billion in general revenue and those states are not seeing citizens flee.
“So perhaps, just perhaps, it takes about $35 billion to run a state with about 12 million and provide the services that are needed for the citizens of that state,” Harris said. “I recognize that we have lots of challenges and if we didn’t have that pension monkey on our back we would be a lot better off, but you know what, in terms of our overall tax revenue we are right in line with our other states.”
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