BRAD WEISENSTEIN: Illinois Shows Americans How Bad Taxes Can Get

Hope in Illinois is sort of like one of those trick birthday candles: just when you think it’s been extinguished, it sparks and comes alive again and again.

That was certainly the feeling as the Illinois General Assembly finished with the fiscal year 2025 budget. Hope. Dead. Hope. Dead. Hope. Dead.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February proposed a record $52.7 billion state budget, but could only hit the record by adding $898 million in new taxes. The most damaging part of this was his idea to take $93 million from Illinoisans by reneging on the inflation adjustment to the standard state income tax deduction.

That died, but state lawmakers managed to keep most of his other tax hikes and added $200 million more of their own. Plus, they took the budget of this Olympic-caliber record spender and bested it, increasing it by $400 million. Final damage: $53.1 billion in spending, $1.1 billion in new taxes.

Tax and spend. Pritzker’s done a lot of both since he was elected.

The state budget is nearly $15 billion bigger since he took office. That means Illinoisans are being taxed $15 billion more. Pritzker implemented 24 tax and fee hikes soon after taking office and added more in subsequent years, including the $1.1 billion in tax increases hitting after July 1.

Gasoline taxes doubled and got an annual inflation boost, relieving state lawmakers from ever having to take a future public vote on them. Pre-Pritzker the state gas tax was 19 cents per gallon, but on July 1 it hits