Encouraging High End Earners and Seniors to Leave Illinois
The first thing my wife said when I told her my pension check might be cut 5% and her paycheck 2% by the Democrats (and, unfortunately, likely some Republicans in the General Assembly was
“Can we move now?”
Our front yard today.
Who would want to live here in the land of ice and snow?
Add the disincentive to the retired of a new 5% income tax on pensions and Social Security and a fair number of those who can leave probably will.
I was reminded of my wife’s question when I read this paragraph from a Chicago Tribune op-ed piece by Professor Allen R. Sanderson of the University of Chicago today:
“As our population turns grayer, that also means “snow birds” will likely become “sunbirds.” They’ll also be avoiding sizable tax bites, which, in addition to weather, make North Carolina, Florida, Texans and Arizona attractive destinations.”
He concludes:
“But the economic climate could worsen considerably in the city and state as lawmakers wrestle with budgetary exigencies. And it may well be the political winds, not nature’s gusts, that cause firms and families to don Horace Greeley T-shirts and look at Chicago’s skyline in the rearview mirror on their way west and south.”
