Congratulations to the Illinois General Assembly.  If Illinois was on life-support before, the plug has just been pulled.  Despite some Democrats joining all Republicans in the GA voting no, income tax will rise 66% and corporate taxes will be the highest in the world once Governor Quinn signs the bill into law. 

Someone tweeted me the following message today:

If you put your ear to the ground and listen really hard...that's the sound of people fleeing Illinois in droves.

Today, I logged on to Facebook to see a local businessman's post that reinforces the tweet I received:

Democratically controlled Illinois Government, passing bills just before new officials take office smells like politics as usual. Chicago/Illinois Politics at their best. I for one am going to explore changing states of residence and moving at least one of our business units out of Illinois. Tax increases are a tool for government spending! The moving van industry in Illinois has to be rejoicing today.

The comments regarding his posts were mainly about asking him to move to Indiana, Texas, and Florida - all states where the cost of living is lower and where state governments are more favorable to business.

Of course, those that are in favor of the tax increases have stated that the rates are temporary.  Temporary is not a word in the vocabulary of the party of the majority and we should not fool ourselves believing these rates will go away anytime soon. 

The tax increase is supposed to generate $6.8 billion dollars to close the budget gap.  However, we were told that legalizing poker machines in Illinois would generate $300 million which has yet to raise anything close to the projected amount. 

At parties attended by politicos in states surrounding Illinois, Illinois must be the butt of every joke as Illinois seems to do everything it can do to drive business out.  Politicians and municipal leaders elsewhere must love Illinois since they have to do nothing to lure businesses to their states and cities other than to wait for Illinois to drive them out.

State Rep. Roger Eddy put it best regarding tax increases as a result of overspending :

"We're saying to the people of Illinois, 'For eight years we've overspent, now we're going to make it your problem,'" said Rep. Roger Eddy. "We're making up for our mistakes on your back."

Illinois Democrats have just said we spent it, but pay up suckers.  Eddy was one of the united front of Republicans voting against this monstrous tax increase.

As a result, I cannot blame the local businessman for looking elsewhere to live and do his business; it just means that if I am elected to the Effingham City Council, we will have our work cut out for us just to keep the businesses currently here, and will have to quadruple our efforts to draw business to Illinois and our community.