NW Illinois News

Republican candidate Andrew Chesney believes taxes are too high across the state and the recent increases have not been instituted with the people of his community in mind.

“Everything is just swallowed up in the abusive style of Chicago politics,” he told the NW Illinois News. “That approach alone never fixes a pothole, never fixes a bridge or shrinks the size of government. It only contributes to a widespread epidemic of what we’ve had for too long.”

A year after a group of state lawmakers, led by House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), came together to reject Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto and ram through a new state budget that carried a 32 percent permanent income tax hike, jobs growth in Illinois is nowhere near where it is across the rest of the country.

Despite Illinois having more tax revenue to work with than ever, jobs growth across the state has declined by 34 percent since the tax hike was enacted compared to the time since the end of the Great Recession in 2009, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

In addition, as recently as in 2017 Illinois ranked near the bottom in jobs growth, right around the same time that Chief Executive magazine slammed the state as only the 48th best state to do business in.

“We continue to kick the can down the road, which makes it harder to put in place the kind of smaller, more efficient brand of government that we need,” said Chesney, who is running against Nicholas Hyde in the 89th House District in November’s general election.

There is only one path forward for the good of the people of his district, Chesney said.

“A repeal of this tax has to happen,” he said. “We were incorrectly sold a bill of goods and this smokescreen put out by Chicago Democrats now has people leaving the state in droves. That won’t change unless we change things ourselves by taking some of these taxes off the backs of people. All this excessive tax money is not being put to good use and people are tired of the same old story.”