Metro East Sun

Dwight Kay dreams of an Illinois where the will of the people is truly honored and respected.

“The No.1 reason why so many people are leaving Illinois is that our taxes are out-of-control,” Kay told the Metro East Sun. “It’s clearly not what the people want and yet all Springfield can think of doing is raising them even more.”

Kay insists a new Cato Institute study that concludes residents are leaving high-taxed states like Illinois at a much faster pace than lower-taxed states comes as no great surprise. In all, Cato found that the 25 states with the highest taxes have all suffered recent net population loss, while nearly 70 percent of those with the lowest taxes have all experienced net increases.

Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville)

“In the case of Illinois, the even crazier thing is you’ve still got politicians pushing for more increases,” said Kay, who is running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in Illinois’ 112th District. “This election is crucial to the state’s future. The truth is some people aren’t even waiting to see how it turns out before hitting the road.”

In 2016, Illinois lost at least 42,000 people to outmigration, and the wealthy and well-skilled led the pack, taking almost $5 billion in personal income with them, according to the study.

“Illinois has managed to fleece taxpayers to the extent for many of them it’s become quite obvious that their ability to live a normal life here is being affected,” Kay said.

And still, Kay holds out hope.

“Turning things around can be as simple as changing leadership in Springfield,” he said. “Republicans already know we’ve overspent, overtaxed and over-bonded this state into the ground. All we have to do is look around at the surrounding states to know how well we could be doing. That starts with allowing people to have more of a say in how their government operates. But if Democrats win out in November, you can expect more of the same.”

Illinois’ 112th District includes Bethalto, Caseyville, Fairmont City, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Pontoon Beach, Roxana, Shiloh and Swansea.