Millionaire’s tax is a foolish short-term solution

Illinois lawmakers have proposed an additional 3% tax on income over $1 million, which affects only 1% of wage earners in Illinois. Seems reasonable. Tax the 1% more to help out 99% of the rest of us. They can afford it and they won’t even notice. The problem with this type of thinking is that is a very short-term strategy, because many of them will notice and they will take action and that action will be to leave the state of Illinois.

They are already leaving at a fast pace — and this will cause many more on the fence to take action. The state politicians are laughably denying the statistics, but the real story is that rich people are already leaving the state in droves to Florida, Texas and Tennessee and elsewhere without the new millionaire’s tax.

Some of these millionaires have to stay because their livelihood is based here, but the minute they are able they will leave. So, taxing income over $1 million 3% more will bring in more at first, but then very quickly bring in less and less, and eventually this tax will be extended to those making $500k and eventually to the rest of us.

In the long-run, Illinois will be a state with a lot less millionaires and then the rest of us will all have to pay a lot more.

The real answer is to put a hard cap on all taxes and cut spending so nobody has to pay more. But you don’t get votes by telling school districts to cut their spending — much easier to convince everyone that the millionaires will pick up the tab.

This proposed new tax sounds good but is very foolish in the long-run.

John Behof, Kildeer