Letters: Why would Illinois want to be like Texas? Consider these statistics.

Chicago Tribune

6 days ago

The editorial on Texas tax cuts would have us believe everything is bigger in Texas due to its low taxation. Yet, I can name a few basic benefits we should all expect to be afforded in a prosperous society, which are, in fact, very scarce in Texas.
Want to live in a state where you're assured of basic quality health care? Don't move to Texas, which, unlike Illinois, refused the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion and, as a result, has the highest uninsured rate in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Want to live in a state that provides your children access to a quality education? Again, don't move to Texas, where, according to the Education Data Initiative, Texas invests one third less in their pupils than Illinois. ACT scores were five points higher in Illinois compared with Texas in 2024, according to the ACT.
Want to live in a state that acknowledges the effects of climate change and does all it can to protect you from its pernicious effects? Moving to Texas will put you on a collision course with climate change's dangers, as evidenced by the millions of Texans left without power in the freezing winter during the deadly 2021 energy grid crisis due to a lack of regulatory oversight. Additionally, more than 130 lives may have been saved in the recent flash flood disaster in Texas had its leaders chosen to invest in siren networks and flood alert systems.
While the Tribune Editorial Board would have you believe Texas' lower taxation leads to a windfall of savings for its residents, when accounting for the higher median incomes of Illinois residents and Illinois' superior social safety net, this claim turns out to be weak. A 2023 Council for Community and Economic Research report showed that while Texas's nominal cost of living was 7% to 10% lower than Illinois, the difference in effective purchasing power for the average family was only 2% to 3% lower.
I know I am willing to pay 2% to 3% more to ensure my family benefits from better health care, stronger educational opportunities and improved disaster readiness to help us live longer and more fulfilling lives.Congratulations to the Tribune Editorial Board for continuing to promote the Republican Party line: tax cuts good and tax hikes bad ('Texas is talking tax cuts. Illinois? More hikes,' July 23) .
It was one of the most tone-deaf editorials the board has done since it endorsed third-party candidate Gary Johnson over Hillary Clinton in 2016. I know we have short attention spans these days, but is the board really going to hold up as a role model the state where 138 people just died from floods because of a lack of infrastructure investment that could have been paid for with taxes? The state where 246 people died in 2021 when its power grid failed, also for lack of investment in infrastructure? The state that ranks second worst in the country for quality of life in 2025, according to CNBC?
The CNBC article states that 'according to the United Health Foundation, Texas has the nation's lowest number of primary care doctors per capita, the second-lowest number of mental health providers, and it consistently has the highest rate of people without health insurance. The state has among America's strictest abortion bans, and crime is on the high side.'
And regarding the abortion bans, was the editorial board aware of the following statistics? According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 'between 2021 and 2022, infant deaths in Texas rose from 1,985 to 2,240. … This corresponds to a 12.9 percent increase in infant deaths in Texas versus a 1.8 percent increase in infant deaths in the rest of the U.S. during the same period.'
Public education, according to the World Population Review? Texas is 40th; Illinois is 17th.
So go ahead, editorial board, continue to glorify tax cuts and encourage Illinois to become more like Texas, a state that chooses policies that kill people by default.
Me? I will continue to cheer on our governor and other local and state officials who use the taxes they raise to give Illinois citizens a solid quality of life.Mayor Brandon Johnson has ruled out a property tax increase and instead is looking for 'progressive revenue.' The mayor once was a teacher, but he seems incapable of learning lessons from history.
The facts are clear: High taxes drive people out of cities and states. Tens of thousands of residents left Illinois each year from 2019 to 2024, and high taxes were a major reason for many. Illinois only avoided losing population due to immigration, largely people from Venezuela.
In the old Soviet Union, the system controlled where people could live and work. China has the system of household registration, severely limiting educational and job opportunities and access to services to residents who do not stay in their assigned permanent residency. Thankfully, in the United States, people are free to choose where to live.
The mayor was cagey about what specifically 'progressive revenue' means. It is worth considering what taxes Chicagoans already pay. In addition to federal and state taxes, the sales tax in Chicago, a portion of which goes to the state, is 10.25%, among the highest of American cities. Property taxes are already higher than the national average. There are real estate taxes, utility and telecom taxes, amusement taxes, hotel taxes, restaurant taxes, alcohol taxes, a shopping bag tax and cannabis taxes. Businesses are struggling because of high taxes.
Tax the wealthy? Fueling the exodus of wealthy taxpayers will further weaken the tax base. Wealthy corporations? Boeing, Caterpillar, Citadel, Tyson Foods and others have already left.
A bailout from Springfield or Washington is a pipe dream. Borrow more money? The debt per taxpayer is already among the highest in the country.
There is only one responsible option for Chicago: Cut expenses. Unfortunately, the mayor lacks the nerve to do it.As Harvey grapples with mounting debt, it recently made the difficult — but fiscally responsible — decision to lay off 10% of its workforce. And what has Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker done to address the finances of Chicago and the state, respectively?
Johnson has not addressed this city's bloated workforce. Instead, he told the city's contractors to reduce their charges and advocated for the Bring Chicago Home initiative, which would have raised the real estate transfer tax on the wealthy and corporations, spurred their departures and ultimately reduced the city's tax base.
Likewise, Pritzker has not addressed this state's dismal pension and financial outlook. He has yet to address this state's number of governmental bodies — more than 8,500 — and attendant costs, which are more than even more populous states. Instead, our governor advocated for a graduated income tax scheme, which would have had the same effect as Bring Chicago Home, and now he simply baits President Donald Trump in national forums.
Chicago needs to reduce municipal expenditures by examining and eliminating its bloated workforce, and it further needs to consider the need for 50 wards and aldermen and the attendant expenses. And Illinois needs to get its financial house in order by consolidating and/or eliminating some of its more than 8,500 governmental bodies.
The elimination of bloated workforces and governmental bodies would be to the benefit of overburdened and overextended taxpayers and thus would be in the public interest.