Totaling the unsustainable tax increases and windfall revenue during Pritzker Administration – Wirepoints
May 26, 2026
10 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 --
Audio and summary 
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.
Well Gee Whiz,
I’ve had to make “lifestyle” changes resulting from blue state Democratic Party governance too.
The most recent change was losing my job during the covid hoax because I might get sick.
Goodness gracious! A “lifestyle change.” Sounds like something divorce lawyers debate while milking the spouses. Freezing your cajones off in Western Europe next January or living in a tent in Kiev — now that’s a lifestyle change.
How much money did landlords lose during the pandemic’s “eviction moratorium” – that has to be a factor, I’d imagine…
I don’t doubt that the rent increase is real, but we’d be better informed if the Tribune had asked a few landlords why they’re raising rents. “Landlords are raising rents because the lights are higher, the gas is higher, the water is higher.” Yeah, water is higher, but for the average apartment that’d be maybe 2% of the rent. A lot of modern apartments require tenants to pay gas and electric themselves, tho certainly that could be a factor. How about taxes? How about bribes to building inspectors? How about the cost of repairs and maintenance, done by folks who… Read more »
My guess is that inflation is a large part of increases but the massive increase in illegal immigrants is also contributing to surging demand. The illegal immigrant crowd is mostly the lower end of the market but that reverberates and resonates throughout the entire market. There’s been millions of illegals flooding into the cities for the past 18 months unabated. These illegals have to live somewhere. Poor natives are competing with illegals for the largest, cheapest units, driving up the costs, and soon everyone is paying higher prices for rent as supply dries up. On the flip side, tenants are… Read more »
Agree on the illegals. And clearly the cost of their rent is being covered in full or in part by various “charities”. The Ds know this will bolster their voting base because no one checks ID in Illinois anyway. In some states this might be considered buying votes.
I wonder how many “undocumented workers” work in construction, janitorial, building maintenance. It could be that their net effect is to increase the supply, or lower the cost, of housing.
I do know that, in a couple of residential rehabs I was involved in, the vast majority of workers were immigrants, and they did good work. I did not inquire as to their legal status.
Sure, many of them work in trades and maintenance but only new multi-family construction increases supply. There’s not much of that here in IL other than the luxury rental high rises in downtown Chicago. My opinion is that our central and southern american illegal invaders are moving to former low income or lower middle class suburbs taking over entire rental communities in places like Palatine and Rolling Meadows. Or they’re moving to extremely segreated Chicago neighborhoods, displacing the residents who already live there. And to be honest, these types of communities of foreigners are undesirable places for natives to rent,… Read more »
Fake news. How could demand for Chicago apartments increase when everyone is leaving? More lies. Soon no one will be left in Illinois.
People are leaving Illinois. People are also leaving Chicago. But the last census, IIRC, showed that the Chicagoland area’s population is actually stable and many of the north and northwest legislative districts actually increased slightly in population. That’s because the people leaving Chicago can be measured by moving vans, post office change of address registrations, etc. But many of our new residents moving to Chicago cannot be measured because they are illegals not using moving vans or changing their post office box. Then they have 2, 3, 4 children and send them to public schools. I see it everywhere in… Read more »