Prairie State Wire

Illinois raised state income taxes by 32 percent this summer, supposedly to pay down its vendor debt, yet that debt has only increased, providing further proof that taxes will keep going up until residents take a stand, according to Edgar County Watchdogs co-founder Kirk Allen.

“They told us they needed a tax increase to pay down the vendor debt because it was over $14 billion at the time, not to mention politicians love tax increases,” Allen wrote on the group's Illinois Leaks website. “So, here we are a couple of months into the great new unbalanced budget and income tax hike and what good has it done for those things they told us it was going to take care of? Current vendor debt is a whopping $15,340,582,906.00.”

Allen noted that local governments typically raise taxes by up to 5 percent each year and are often able to increase them by larger amounts because the hearings they hold beforehand garner little public input.

Edgar County Watchdogs co-founder Kirk Allen

“So what is the takeaway from this?" Allen wrote. "Not much, other than little we are told by politicians are true and more often than not, none of your taxes are going to go down unless you get involved and stop those tax increases from the local level first and foremost, as those are the ones eating you up the most."