Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
23 Comments
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
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A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
DO IT!
Taxes on gas in Illinois equal billions of dollars a year yet the roads are terrible. Video gaming and casino gambling generate a billion or so a year. Cannabis sales generate lots and lots of tax revenue. The state lottery generates lots and lots and lots of money. Where does it all go? Schools are supposedly broke, roads terrible, pension crisis, where is all this money being wasted or whose pockets are getting filled up?
You got it……..pockets filled!!
I would propose an 18% tax on all welfare payments. Time to pony up for the free rides
I’d like to know the logistics behind this. A tollbooth at every entrance and exit? Lot more on and off ramps than on normal tollway. Rates? Same rate going from all the way north to all the way south? What about just going from Irving Park to North Ave? How would they account for the differences? Seems like a lot of expensive infrastructure and maintenance would be necessary, so when’s the payoff?
Wow. U of C grad students thought of a plan to have more tollways to create revenues for pensions. A grammar-school kid could’ve thought of that. Secondly, guess what happens when a none-tolled street becomes a tolled street. People tend to find alternate routes. I’m guessing the revenue projections for this hare-brained scheme didn’t include that consideration.
These future bloodsuckers have not figured how to increase the size of this nation’s pie. JFK used science and engineering to drive the US economy. Starting in the 70’s MBAs and lawyers worked for Iarger profits for employers through outsourcing/free trade and destroyed the welfare of the working class. The economist Michael Hudson calls this “financialization” as it produces nothing positive for the economy. Engineers despise MBAs!
Another way for Springfield to steal money, just like the tollway system
Seems like a bunch of smart kids. I’d like them to work for a few weeks on a streets and sanitation crew, water department, maybe tag along with a commissioner to see what they do. Start looking at disability claims, you know like the fourth, fifth or sixth one filed by a city worker. Then start visiting some of the community organizations that receive money from the city and see how they put it to use. I bet they would have a really interesting report if they did that.
A new road toll (tax) for pension funding brings up a point a former poster here used often that “there are plenty of new tax avenues Illinois can use to fund its pension woes.” This proposal is one new example and, should it happen, will no doubt happen on other roads as well. Interestingly also suggested in the ideas from the students would be new tiers within the pension system. Hopefully the tiers would not be similar to the State plan that may not meet Social Security regulations. Suggestions that should be considered and transitioned to enaction’s or be prepared… Read more »
You are correct RB. Plenty of new taxes for the city and state to collect.
Same old song and the people keep leaving taking the money with them.
Move the deck chairs in a straight line.