Prairie State Wire

Jim Dodge wonders when those legally sworn with putting the welfare of the state first will actually start to legislate with that oath in mind.

“People in Illinois have to choose differently, or run the risk of these same lawmakers ruining the state even more,” Dodge told the Prairie State Wire. “That’s the main theme of this election: Are people of Illinois fed up enough to throw the bums out of office?”

Dodge argues the latest example of Springfield’s bad governance comes in the form of the lawmakers now proposing a statewide property tax as a way of tackling the state’s mounting pension liabilities.

According to Wirepoints, others in the financial sector have specifically proposed the idea of levying a special state property assessment estimated to be around 1 percent of actual property value each year for 30 years.

“That would be the worst thing you can do for Illinois,” Dodge, an Orland Park Republican running for state treasurer, said of the proposed tax. “It’s another excuse lawmakers will use for not being more efficient. I talk to people all the time that tell me how much taxes are out of control. All this proposal is being talked about as doing is fixing today’s deficit; it does nothing to change how we got to this point or how we prevent it from helping again.”

Dodge said the resolution recently introduced by Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) opposing any new statewide property tax could help stop the bleeding.

“We’re going to have to have reasonable, rationale spending reforms that include addressing our public pension system,” he said. “No one wants public servants not to get a decent pension. It’s just that we desperately need to get our fiscal house in order.”

In the end, Dodge said legislators have to be honest with themselves.

“The whole approach of the legislature has been to lie and deny,” he said. “They have mastered the art of fantasy math.”