America is the land of opportunity. Illinois should act like it.

For 250 years, America has stood for the idea that ordinary people can build extraordinary lives with hard work, ingenuity and freedom. Illinois should be making that promise easier to fulfill, not harder.

For Vlad Rikhlyuk’s family, entrepreneurship represented freedom. His father, who grew up in the Soviet Union, couldn’t earn enough as a government welder to support his family and came up with a business idea that wasn’t common in Soviet Ukraine: He started a cotton candy business.

The thriving business angered the government. Officials came and smashed his father’s cotton candy machine. Rikhlyuk knew it was time to seek new opportunities and come to America.

Years later, Vlad and his wife, Ellery, now living in Chicago, were inspired by the business and founded Atlas Sweets, selling cotton candy at local farmers markets and street fairs. While the government wasn't smashing their business, it was burying them in permits, fees and regulations. Government overreach is a problem for many Illinoisans and businesses.

“If the state wants to improve its small business climate, my one message would be to simplify everything,” Ellery Rikhlyuk said.

America became the greatest economy in the world because it rewarded people for taking risks. Illinois should be making that process much easier. Instead of boosting their salaries or increasing spending, state lawmakers need to make it easier for businesses, and people, to flourish by reducing hurdles and costs that discourage entrepreneurs.

From January 2019, when Gov. JB Pritzker took office, to May 2026, Illinois added just 52,000 jobs, with only 13,400 in the private sector. That represents job growth of only 0.9%, ranking the state 44th nationally. Over the same period, the U.S. added jobs at a rate of 6%, and neighboring states significantly outpaced Illinois.

State and local government jobs accounted for 79% of that Illinois job growth under Pritzker, but government payrolls cannot replace a healthy private economy. Around 336,300 Illinois residents are looking for work. Sustainable growth comes from businesses willing to invest, expand and hire.

For Rob McMillan, the founder of Chicago-based Dearborn Denim, expanding his business also came with obstacles. After his company outgrew its original location, building permits delayed the move for nearly two years. A landscaping project also required multiple permits, court appearances and thousands of extra dollars.

“I think there are probably many stories out there where people just gave up halfway through,” McMillan said. “And that's killing business and costing jobs.”

The state’s business climate helps explain why. Illinois has one of the nation’s highest overall state and local tax burdens, along with a high corporate income tax rate and an unfriendly tax code.

At a time when entrepreneurs are asking lawmakers to reduce barriers, Springfield is adding new ones. Lawmakers approved a budget that relies on at least $800 million in new taxes, including taxes on digital advertising, cryptocurrency transactions, social media companies and other businesses.

Each hike targets a different industry, but together they send the same message: Doing business in Illinois will continue becoming more expensive.

It’s not just businesses. Illinois residents, who have laid their roots in the Land of Lincoln, are starting to worry more about the state’s economy.

Taxes are Illinois voters’ top concern, followed by the economy. Since the start of 2025, the economy has risen sharply as a top issue on Illinoisans’ minds.

Illinoisans shouldn’t need to leave the state they call home to achieve the American dream; our problems are not impossible to fix.

This amazing state has the foundation to enable economic opportunity, and it starts by holding lawmakers accountable for wasteful spending, unnecessary tax hikes and burdensome regulations. Coupled with commonsense legislation that removes burdens on businesses and entrepreneurs, Illinois can become a place where companies and residents flock to build lives.

Two hundred fifty years after the nation's founding, Illinois should remember the principle that brought Rikhlyuk's father to America: Opportunity, not bureaucracy, is what built this country, and it's what will make Illinois the land of opportunity once more.

• Matt Paprocki is the president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute.