Illinois Pays the Price of Taxing the Rich

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Illinois—states that are the most heavily reliant on the taxes of the wealthy—are now among those with the biggest budget holes. A large population of rich residents was a blessing during the boom, showering states with billions in tax revenue. But it became a curse as their incomes collapsed with financial markets.

Arriving at a time of greatly increased public spending, this reversal highlights the dependence of the states on the outsize incomes of the wealthy. The result for state finances and budgets has been extreme volatility.

In New York before the recession, the top 1% of earners, who made more than $580,000 a year, paid 41% of the state's income taxes in 2007, up from 25% in 1994, according to state tax data. The top 1% of taxpayers paid 40% or more of state income taxes in New Jersey and Connecticut. In Illinois, which has a flat income-tax rate of 5%, the top 15% paid more than half the state's income taxes.

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Illinois: Almost 97% of state workers could be represented by unions soon

Union members the new rich in this job hemorrhaging, bankrupt state. Good luck retiring, Porky Pigs. Unlike the private sector, you don't create wealth. You are a burden on the taxpayers.

More. Newsalert: Chicago's Population Decline: The Shocking Facts

What will change this culture of death? Let these children go.

Related posts here and here. Let's note Chicago and Cook County are dominated by government jobs. Gov. Quinn found his margin of victory in counties clustered around the city. And this trend:

Illinois’s high tax ways have already prompted a net of 1,227,347 residents to move to other states between 1991 and 2009, or about one resident every 10 minutes.

...Some glimmer of recognition from the new regime, but not our feckless Dem governor.

P.S. Here's the Fed number of 75,000 from 2002, which included part-time and the collar counties. That's a big difference from the full-time of 49,000 plus in Chicago stated above.

Chicago employees/1		Total employees		Revenues in millions/2		Earnings (loss) in millions/2
10/1/02	Change from 10/1/01	10/1/02	Change from 10/1/01	10/1/02	Change from 10/1/01	10/1/02	Change from 10/1/01
1	U.S. Government, 230 S. Dearborn St., Chicago 60604; (312) 353-6234	Vera Garcia, Service center director	75,000/3	–3.8%

1. Figures reflect the number of full-time, full-time equivalent and part-time employees in the six-county area: Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, McHenry and Kane counties.

Wonder what the number, including part-time is today?