Prairie State Wire

Jim Dodge thinks he knows why so many taxpayers across Illinois are now feeling squeezed.

“Taxes have long been too high in Illinois, but a big part of why everyone is feeling so overtaxed is because they’re so underserved,” Dodge told Prairie State Wire. “Right now, our government just squanders everything it touches. They’re never honest with taxpayers about the cost of funding all their special interests. That’s why we have such big debt and large piles of unpaid bills. We pay far too much for the little service we do receive from Springfield.”

Dodge, running for state treasurer as a Republican, points to news that jobs growth across the state has decreased despite the recent increase in tax revenue while jobs growth has remained firm across the country.

“Everyone is deeply skeptical of the power structure in Springfield,” Dodge said. “The most frightening thing about it is the government’s desire to control every aspect of everything. This election is a referendum on putting the state back in position to be the leader of the pack we know Illinois should be.”

The state has a long way to go to get there. Illinois ranked 42nd in the nation in jobs growth, just last year, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. Illinois was also ranked one of the worst in the country to do business with by Chief Executive magazine.

The state has seen an average annual jobs growth of 1.11 percent since the end of the Great Recession. However, one year after state lawmakers pushed through a record-setting 32 percent permanent income tax hike, employment growth declined by 34 percent to 0.74 percent

“It’s certainly not a good one-year anniversary,” Dodge said. “There are plenty of things this government can and should be doing to rebuild trust among its citizens. Instead, all of these tax policies are only breeding more distrust and dysfunction.”