Lake County Gazette

Ted Dabrowski shakes at the thought of how much more abuse Illinois taxpayers can take.

“You have to remember that all the damage people who know are warning that the progressive tax Democrats are looking to enact will mean it will come on top of everything else that’s happening,” Dabrowski, president of government watchdog Wirepoints, told the Lake County Gazette. “I just think people have had enough.”

Even as Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to insist that the progressive tax proposal he’s been pushing since his days as a candidate will only mean higher rates for the state’s richest of the rich citizens, a new Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) analysis concludes that the state would quickly lose the equivalent of all the 45,000 jobs it gained in 2019 if the bill were to become law.

In all, IPI forecasts that some 56,399 jobs would be lost. On a per-capita basis adjusted to take into account the number of employed residents that would mean almost 6,000 jobs for Dabrowski’s Lake County community.  

“I don’t find the numbers to be the least bit surprising,” Dabrowski added. “I mean, what would you expect when there is a 60 percent tax hike on job creators?”

In early November, voters across the state will have their say when they cast ballots to decide whether the state constitution should be amended to allow lawmakers the authority to enact a progressive tax system to replace the current flat tax.

Between now and then, Dabrowski said he expects Democrats to turn to every trick and manipulation they can think of to get what they want.  

“The alternative would be for them to enact reforms that would hurt the unions or what they consider to be their base,” he said. “It’s easier for them to just hurt ordinary voters than what they (see) as some of their biggest supporters.”