Metro East Sun

Illinois has been home to the second slowest annual income growth in the country over the last decade, coming in at less than half of the national average of 1.6 percent.

A Pew Charitable Trust study measured the state’s growth since 2007 at just 0.7 percent after adjusting for inflation, tied with Mississippi for the second slowest rate of growth in the country and just a notch above Connecticut’s average of 0.6 percent.

Dwight Kay told the Metro East Sun the new findings speak to just how much the state has lost its way and how desperate the need for change in Springfield truly is.

Rep. Katie Stuart

“Right now with what we’re getting from Springfield, we have an open invitation for people to abandon this state,” said Kay, who is running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville). “People are feeling like they can go almost anywhere else and have a better chance to be better off financially while living in a place where the government comes closer to actually functioning the way it’s supposed to.”

Many of the state’s ongoing struggles can be attributed to a pair of recent record-breaking income tax hikes, ever-rising property tax rates and unfunded pension liabilities that continue to mount, Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) states.

According to IPI tabulations, the tax hike of 2011 resulted in a $55.8 billion loss in real GDP and the most recent spike is expected to have a similar impact.

“Property tax rates have become so onerous and burdensome people now find themselves paying more for property taxes than they do their mortgage,” Kay said. “That’s about as upside down as the system can be.”

In the end, lawmakers in Springfield have so handcuffed business owners across the state they really can’t be expected to treat workers as well as some owners in other states are, Kay said.

“In Illinois, businesses can’t afford the wages of other places because so much of what they earn has to go toward defending against lawsuits and paying worker’s compensation cost," he said. "With all the regulations and litigation, everything is so bogged down it’s hard to keep up.”

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