Governor JB Pritzker’s budget address is an annual work of fiction, and this year is no different. It paints a false picture of a thriving Illinois that has made major progress under Pritzker’s leadership, despite what he portrays as serious headwinds from the demonized Trump administration, which he casts as both the primary cause of any challenges he is willing to admit and an existential threat to the state’s future. In reality, Illinois’s economic struggles and continued exodus of residents are overwhelmingly of its own making.
Since Pritzker became governor in 2019, the Illinois state budget has grown by $16.7 billion, an increase of more than 40 percent. His current budget proposal adds $878 million in new spending while raising another $589 million by taxing social media companies and casinos, bringing the number of tax and fee hikes since he took office to 58. The budget is absent any spending reforms, while so-called budgetary savings are nothing more than smoke and mirrors, as the federal government is actually doing the heavy lifting.
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