The dictionary defines \u201cdeadbeat\u201d as someone who deliberately avoids paying their bills. It\u2019s an unflattering label, but for Illinois, it\u2019s now their unofficial new nickname: the Deadbeat State.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Wracked by corruption and drowning in debt, the state of Illinois has surpassed California as the national poster child for fiscal mismanagement. In desperation last January, state lawmakers approved a massive increase in the state\u2019s personal and corporate income taxes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Individual income taxes rose by 66 percent while corporate taxes increased 45 percent. Lawmakers also approved a two percent cap on spending increases, but acknowledged that higher pension and health care costs would more than absorb those increases, leaving state services and programs high and dry.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Governors of neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin responded by urging Illinois businesses to move their companies \u2014 and their jobs \u2014 to more business-friendly states.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Despite the tax increases, Illinois still has a $12 billion deficit, nearly half the state\u2019s budget. That doesn\u2019t count more than $60 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There simply is not enough money to pay the state\u2019s obligations. In September, the stack of unpaid bills lying on the state comptroller\u2019s desk totaled more than $5 billion.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s solution? Don\u2019t pay the bills. An Illinois newspaper has created a searchable online database of the state\u2019s unpaid bills that is more than 3,000 pages long, listing more than 166,000 unpaid debts, some dating back to 2010.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Illinois\u2019 Anne Johnson is being forced to close her century-old pharmacy because of late state payments. A Chicago funeral home owner may have to stop burying poor people because the state is six months behind in its payments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Drowning in debt, the state is taking on even more debt. And because every major credit rating agency has downgraded the state, Illinois now pays millions more in interest rates to borrow money.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
So, why should we care what happens in Illinois? Because Illinois is a warning to us all.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Illinois is by no means alone in its fiscal crisis. The recession has revealed systemic weaknesses in cities and states across the nation \u2014 weaknesses that were masked initially by a strong economy and later by federal stimulus money. But the stimulus money is gone amidst record federal deficits.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The U.S. federal government borrows 40 cents of every dollar it spends. Our national debt \u2014 the total of our unpaid bills \u2014 is nearly $15 trillion. That works out to a $200,000 credit card debt for a family of four. That\u2019s not just an illustration, that\u2019s what American taxpayers actually owe.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Treasury, taxpayers currently fork out $454 billion a year just to pay the interest on the national debt. In August, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Still, the borrowing and spending continues. Whose fault is it?\u00a0 To a great extent, it\u2019s ours.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
We all want cuts, but not to our programs. We call for fiscal restraint from our elected officials but howl when our ox gets gored. But if we are to put our fiscal house in order as a state and as a nation, we must all be willing to take a hit.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In Washington state, lawmakers should again audit tax incentives. Those that don\u2019t pay for themselves, attract new investments or create or preserve jobs should be eliminated.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Gov. Chris Gregoire and legislators need to jettison non-essential services or turn them over to the private sector. Most importantly, they must streamline our state\u2019s costly, complex and overlapping regulations.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Simply put, the cost of permits is out of whack in Washington state and it is killing employers in the private sector, non-profit groups \u2014 even other essential services like first responders, hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Washington state should not slide into the same category as Illinois. Becoming a deadbeat state is not an option!<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The dictionary defines \u201cdeadbeat\u201d as someone who deliberately avoids paying their bills. It\u2019s an unflattering label, but for Illinois, it\u2019s now their unofficial new nickname: the Deadbeat State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-2221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}