Tax dollars go, not enough come back

If the people of Illinois had to live off the return on their investment of tax dollars in Washington, we would all be in the poorhouse.

For a long time, Illinois has been paying out far more to the federal government than what it gets back. And the trend continues.

An Associated Press analysis released on Tuesday shows that, on average, Illinoisans paid $9,336 in federal taxes in 2005 and got $6,328 back. That amounts to 68 cents on the dollar.

There are some logical explanations for Illinois being a so-called donor state that have nothing to do with the state lacking clout or respect in Washington.

States with higher per-capita incomes tend to pay higher taxes and get back fewer of those tax dollars than states with a large number of people living in poverty. Illinois is one of those wealthier states. States with a lot of military bases get a good amount of federal tax dollars returned to them. Illinois is not one of those states. In fact, five military bases have been closed in Illinois in recent years.

Social Security and Medicare payments are also figured into calculating the return on federal tax dollars. So naturally states that draw retirees -- and that's not Illinois, either -- can fare better.

But there's no doubt that clout counts, too. There are billions of dollars in federal discretionary programs -- human service and justice grants, research and development, and defense and homeland security contracts, to name some -- that the state can get with the flexing of its congressional muscle.

Indeed, every election cycle we hear incumbents in Congress and their challengers promising to get Illinois a fairer share of federal dollars. Well, they can dust off that pledge for the 2008 campaign. And the winners should for once stop making Illinois a perennial loser in what its taxpayers get back from taxes deducted from their paychecks for the feds.

Yet, it's not for lack of trying.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin recently announced that the Senate approved $152.3 million for defense-related projects in Illinois. The state stands to benefit greatly if this appropriation becomes law, as would firms in Bolingbrook, Rolling Meadows and Wheeling, which would get some of this federal defense money.

Illinois also got a huge boost in the return of federal gas tax dollars, thanks to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Through his clout and in partnership with the state's congressional delegation and local government officials, billions of dollars in road improvement and transit projects have been set aside for Illinois.

But much of that money can't be released until the state of Illinois agrees to match the federal amount with some its own dollars.

Just another reason why Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Legislature should pass a capital improvement plan containing just such matching dollars. If they exit this short fall legislative session with this in limbo, then it will be lack of leadership in Springfield -- not Washington -- to blame for Illinois getting the short shrift on road funds this year.