Metro East Sun

Dwight Kay isn’t sure where all the money is going that’s being collected from the 32 percent income tax hike imposed as part of the state budget deal last year, but he has a suspicion.

“I don’t think many people know for sure where the money is going, but taxpayers have every right to be concerned,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “If I had to guess, I would say a lot of it has probably gone to grants that weren’t needed, special interest groups and plain old pork.”

Kay’s concerns were raised anew by recent news that Illinois lost some $9.9 billion in net worth in 2017, dropping its “total primary government net position” to a negative $137 billion.

The Illinois net worth numbers are courtesy of the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for fiscal year 2017 and were comprised by measuring the net worth of assets minus liabilities. The $9.9 billion figure equates to approximately a quarter of the state’s total revenue for the year, which was approximately $38 billion, according to Wirepoints.

“My concern is we passed this massive increase that was supposed to allow us to pay off some bills and up our pension payment contributions,” Kay said. “Well, debt is back up to $10 billion and we're doing nothing about pensions.”

Kay defeated Wendy Erhart in the Republican primary in the 112th District with roughly 58 percent of the vote and is now poised to face Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in November’s general election.

The net worth losses aren’t just restricted to the state, with figures comprised by Wirepoints showing over the last decade that the City of Chicago, Cook County and the Chicago Public Schools have all suffered steep losses.

Data also shows Illinois is easily outpacing other states in terms of its negative net position and a recently booming stock market has had little effect in stemming the tide.

Research further concludes the bulk of the state’s losses over the last decade derives from still bubbling unfunded annuity liabilities. Even with markets rising in 2017 and the state’s pensions earning an unusually high 15 percent, pension liabilities stayed basically flat and the state remained heavily mired in the red.

“It’s setting the stage for lawmakers to come back and ask for more tax dollars,” Kay said. “To change that course, we need to elect people who know how to make and keep a budget. I’ll be delving into this more once I’m in Springfield. This can all still be fixed, but we are getting close to the point of having no options.”