(The Center Square) – A new report finds a connection between high tax states and population loss, which may explain why Illinoisans are leaving the state.
IRS data shows that between 2020 and 2021, Illinois, with the second highest property taxes in the country, experienced the third highest outmigration in the country, losing nearly 54,000 residents on net.
JD Tuccelli with the Reason Foundation said Illinois lawmakers are well aware this is going on.
“You know they know this because they make it as difficult as they possibly can to leave high tax regimes,” Tuccelli said.
Tuccelli points to a 2018 Illinois law that aims to claw back tax breaks from any business that moves business operations out of state.
Twenty-six states experienced a net gain of income tax filers, led by Florida, Texas and North Carolina. The report found that eight of the top 10 states that gained population either forgo individual income taxes on wage and salary income, have a flat income tax, or are moving to a flat income tax.
“What happens is this creates jobs, this creates economic opportunity, and that draws in people who aren’t consciously deciding based upon tax rates,” Tuccelli said.
Illinois voters rejected an attempt by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democrats in the state legislature to change the state’s flat income tax to a progressive one in the 2020 election.
Clever Real Estate also conducted a study on the motivation of people who move to another state. They teamed up with Allied Van Lines and found that Illinois has had more outbound moves than any other state in the first half of this year.
“Illinois just recently in the past few years passed a really big tax increase so people said they are moving because of that,” researcher Jamie Seale said. “Taxes were a big thing for boomers especially.”
Pritzker has repeatedly denied that the state is losing residents.
“We all talked about the exodus from the state of Illinois, which I want to contend to you that some of that data was wrong,” Pritzker said earlier this year.
