Illinois is losing more citizens than nearly every other state, and according to reports, the biggest reason citizens are leaving is that they can no longer afford to live in the Land of Lincoln.
Certainly, Americans move from place to place for a large variety of reasons. From new jobs, to schooling, to weather and family, Americans are a people motivated by the need for change. But in Illinois, one of the major reasons to seek a change of venue is because the state is simply taxing them out of their homes, according to Chicago’s WGN TV.
According to reports, Illinois alone lost 33,703 citizens to outward migration last year. In 2016, the state lost another 37,508 people. A report by the Chicago Tribune also noted that Chicago has been a net loser of its citizens for the last three years running. And the surrounding county was also a net loser of its population.
Indeed, Chicago is unique in the U.S. for being the only major city that has consistently lost citizens over the last five years. The Tribune’s editorial board even published an editorial saying that it no longer makes any sense to live in Illinois.
Because so many citizens are leaving, Illinois dropped from fifth-largest state to number six in 2017, the Tribune reported last year.
One Chicago couple who moved to Tennessee told WGN that the move gave them back an amazing 25 percent of their income that would no longer be lost to property taxes and other expenses associated with living in the deep blue state of Illinois.
Another ex-Chicagoan told WGN that her property tax in Tennessee was the same as those she paid in Chicago, but the size of her property in the Volunteer State is far larger than what she had back home.
Best-selling author Brad Thor, who calls himself an “economic refugee,” told WGN that he fled Chicago to stop “aiding and abetting” the city’s corruption.
“I was aiding and abetting a corrupt system in Illinois,” he said explaining why he moved to the Nashville, Tennessee, area. “We’d all had it,” he said of why he and others left Chicago.
With so many leaving Illinois, it is no wonder that moving van Line company United Van Lines ranked the state as number one for outbound moving vans.
So, how is the state’s legislature reacting to the tens of thousands of constituents leaving every year over high taxes? Well, legislators are proposing a massive tax hike, naturally.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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