The voters of Illinois are about to be voting on whether or not the state constitution should be amended to allow for a graduated income tax. Some people would like for us to think Illinois would be the only state with a graduated tax. My Almanac says thirty-two states have one already. Six states have a percent tax on income and three on investments only. Nine either depends on resource sales, corporate taxes, or real estate taxes among the usual myriad of others.

Texas for example, does well when oil prices are high but when the price was in the low teens, the state had almost no income and suffered greatly.

Almost all the states taxing income would cause me to pay more than people of my income would pay. The graduated rates on those states go from very low to very high quickly.

Remember all states have expenses and they must have revenue to pay for them. Illinois doesn’t have oil like Alaska and Texas or does it have minerals with western states. Florida has none but if you have ever visited there then you know you left a lot of money in ‘Florida taxes.

Illinois’ problems may be we don’t tax as much as most states and we spend too much on bad ideas. We have been looking for a place to move to for decades but we always find other states or areas are less desirable for one or the other of us.  Illinois has water, its green, few tornadoes, and no hurricanes, not too hot in summer or cold in winter. We benefited from living here so here we will stay and take vacations to places we don’t want to permanently live.

Check all types of taxes and conditions before moving to another state.