Kane County Reporter

Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) was pleased Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State and Budget Address touched on the need to give taxpayers some relief, but said Pritzker's proposals are on "a short-term basis."

“Trying to get our fiscal house in order is a good thing,“ McConchie said. “One of the things I have a real concern about is the fact that the governor is proposing what appears to be about $2.5 billion in permanent government expansion while only providing $1 billion tax relief and only on a short-term basis, only for this next year.”

McConchie said contributing factors behind an exodus of residents from the state have been the cost of living, high taxes and other costs associated with life in Illinois.

“One of the things we are seeing is people are voting with their feet. More than 113,000 in the last year alone have decided to leave Illinois,” McConchie said. “... The governor appears to be hearing that people are having issues with the cost of living but only is offering this short-term relief.”

Substantial long-term tax relief is needed to make it affordable and desirable for people to live in the state once again, McConchie said.

“I look forward to the debate in the coming weeks about this, but really fixing our state means making it so the people want to move into the state, making it affordable for them to do so,” McConchie said.

According to Patch, Pritzker’s state budget totals $112.5 billion. Of that, $45.5 billion would be from the state’s general revenue fund while the rest would come from federal funds.