I know I’ve written about taxes in the past. We, as a people, are being taxed to death. I am hopeful that some of Trump’s tax, or elimination thereof, actually come through. No matter what the federal government does though, Illinoisans still have to cope with Pritzker and his “Never met a tax he didn’t like” attitude. Even when Trump instituted no tax on tips, Pritzker said Illinois would not go along. It’s never about spending. It’s always about tax increases. With the number of businesses leaving Illinois, guess who the tax burden will fall to.

According to a new WalletHub report, Illinois residents will pay the highest combined state and local tax burden in the entire nation in 2025. Let that sink in. The highest in America. On a median U.S. household income of $79,004, Illinois families will fork over $13,099, more than 16.5% of their income to state and local government.

That’s not “investing in communities.” That’s confiscation.

Illinois households will pay $4,472 more than the national average, nearly 52% higher than what the typical American family pays. And for what? Safer streets? Better infrastructure? Efficient government? Hardly.

We are surrounded by states that prove this doesn’t have to be the case.

If a family earning $79,004 moved across the border to Iowa, the next-highest taxed state among our neighbors, they would still save $2,715. Move to Missouri? They’d keep an extra $5,315 in their pocket every year.

Five thousand dollars.

That’s groceries. That’s a car payment. That’s tuition. That’s retirement savings. Instead, in Illinois, it disappears into a bloated bureaucracy that never shrinks and never reforms. And the politicians wonder why people are leaving.

Illinois lost population for nine straight years. Nine. That is not a coincidence. That is not random. That is policy failure.

Yes, Census revisions showed a population bump in 2023, but it was driven by a spike in international migration, much of it involuntary or temporary. Meanwhile, since 2020, Illinois has lost 420,678 residents to domestic out-migration. That’s nearly half a million people who packed up and said, “Enough.”

They’re not leaving because of the weather. They’re leaving because they’re tired of being treated like an ATM.

Over 50% of Illinois voters say they would leave the state if they could, and high taxes are the top reason. When half your population is looking at the exit, you don’t have a messaging problem. You have a governance problem.

Property taxes are the clearest example of this failure. Illinois has the second-highest property taxes in the nation, and they account for nearly half of residents’ total tax burden. Nearly 3 in 5 Illinoisans believe the public services they receive are not worth what they pay.

And they’re right. We are paying premium prices for mediocre results. Schools demand more funding every year. Local governments expand payrolls. Pension obligations balloon. Yet taxpayers are expected to just keep writing bigger checks.

The political class in Springfield doesn’t talk about structural reform. They don’t talk seriously about pension restructuring. They don’t talk about consolidating redundant local governments. They don’t talk about cutting spending in a meaningful way.

They talk about “fair share” and “revenue solutions.” Translation: they want more of your money.

Illinois has become a case study in what happens when one-party rule faces no accountability. Decades of fiscal mismanagement have produced massive debt, sky-high property taxes, and a tax climate that actively drives away working families and businesses. This isn’t sustainable. And it isn’t normal.

States don’t lose residents year after year unless something is fundamentally broken. Families don’t consider fleeing their home state in majority numbers unless the burden becomes unbearable.

Illinois doesn’t need another tax credit program. It doesn’t need another task force. It doesn’t need another study. It needs structural reform. It needs spending discipline. It needs leadership that understands taxpayers are not an endless resource.

Until Springfield confronts the reality that you cannot tax your way to prosperity, the exodus will continue. Families will keep voting with their feet. Businesses will keep relocating. And Illinois will keep asking why growth happens everywhere but here.

The answer is simple. You can’t build a thriving state on the backs of overtaxed families.

And if that doesn’t tick you off enough, it looks like the Chicago Bears are serious about leaving Illinois entirely. Well, at least they aren’t considering Wisconsin.