Dan Ugaste is desperate to preserve Illinois as the state he’s always prided himself on calling home.
“We are definitely heading in the wrong direction, and the fight to turn things around will determine if we do enough to stop it from becoming just a shell of itself,” Ugaste told Kane County Reporter.
“We’re already 48th in the country among states where businesses want to be, near the absolute bottom," he added of the recent Chief Executive’s 2018 “Best and Worst States for Business” report where Illinois only ranked ahead of New York and California. "That’s not just going to get better on its own.”
Dan Ugaste
Ugaste said the proposed statewide property tax being discussed as a way of paying down the state’s massive pension liability is just more of the same, bad decision-making that’s led to all the hard times now being felt by many across the state.
According to Wirepoints, others in the financial sector have specifically proposed the idea of levying a special state property assessment estimated to be around 1 percent of actual property value each year for 30 years.
“People in my district already think taxes are completely out of control,” said Ugaste, a Geneva Republican running to replace retiring Rep. Steve Andersson (R-Geneva) in the 65th District. “This would just cause more people to leave the state, while the ones that are forced to stay in the area will be looking to cross over to the other side of the border.”
Ugaste said a resolution recently introduced by Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) opposing any new statewide property tax could help stop the bleeding.
“I don’t think anyone really wants to raise taxes, but the idea of it is much easier to some than finding real solutions and making the tough choices that need to be made,” he said. “That’s what we truly need for Illinois.”
The 65th House District includes Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles, Pingree Grove, Hampshire and Huntley.
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