Pritzker Gives False Reasons for Illinois Population Decline

View as PDF

Illinois Governor Jay Robert “J. B.” Pritzker inaccurately identified students leaving for college as the reason for Illinois’ population decline, according to an analysis by Bryce Hill of the Illinois Policy Institute.

“According to this study, Illinoisans between the ages of 26 and 54 made up 64.5% of the net decline in population from 2017-2018,” said Jim Tobin, economist and president of Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF).

“Pritzker has been a total disaster for Illinois,” said Tobin. “For the first time in 200 years, Illinois lost population.”

According to the analysis, “The two primary reasons these Illinoisans are choosing to leave the state are for better housing and employment opportunities, both of which have been hindered by poor public policy in Illinois. Nearly half of Illinoisans have thought about moving away, and they said taxes were their No. 1 reason.”

“For years, Springfield politicians have been raising taxes to bail out the state pension funds for retired government employees and bureaucrats,” said Tobin. “The funds from these tax increases have not benefited anyone in the private sector. Instead, they have been pumped into these pension funds that have made 152,640 retired government employees pension millionaires.

“No wonder the state’s most productive citizens have been moving to states with lower taxes and better governors. They became disgusted having to support the lavish, gold-plated pension benefits of these government retirees.”