North Cook News

Jillian Bernas believes that one need only look at state Rep. Michelle Mussman’s (D-Schaumburg) Facebook page to see where her loyalties lie.

“These questionable posts just continue to support the fact that Mussman is focused on loyalty to her leaders like [Gov. J.B.] Pritzker and [House Speaker Mike] Madigan, instead of posting common-sense solutions to her Facebook page,” Bernas told North Cook News after Mussman recently took to social media to claim other states have enacted tax increases on the rich and not seen an outmigration of that population as a direct consequence.  

“She overlooks basic policy facts and the circumstances facing Illinois families,” added Bernas, who has twice challenged Mussman for her seat in the 56th District. “Why would she care, though, she is insulated from the problems that the rest of us face.”

Rep. Michelle Mussman

While attracting a lot of attention, Bernas said that Mussman’s post is hardly drawing the kind of reaction she hoped for.

“It is getting many more comments than her posts usually do, but probably not the type of responses she is looking for while trying to toe the line for Governor Pritzker's so-called progressive-tax panacea,” she said. “Pritzker and Mussman are pushing this campaign to influence public opinion because they have no interest in controlling costs and spending or making structural changes to state government policies.”

Bernas said she finds Mussman’s whole understanding of the system of taxation to be off-base.

“In her posts, Mussman compares Illinois to a couple other states which she says have got it right by raising taxes,” she said. “However, Mussman ignores Illinois’ total tax burden in her posts. For example, California may have the highest income tax burden, but it also passed Proposition 13 to limit property taxes to 1 percent of a home’s assessed value and control property taxes. Illinois’ property-tax percentage is nearly double the national average and we have the highest overall tax burden.”

Indeed, a recent Cato Institute “Tax Reform and Interstate Migration” study found that in 2016, of the country’s 25 highest-taxed states, 24 of them had net outmigration, while over that same time 68 percent of the 25 lowest-taxed states had net in-migration.

Bernas and Mussman last faced off at the polls in November, with the four-time incumbent bagging 58 percent of the vote.