Is Illinois the 'Big Government' Capital of America? (Full Debate)

Illinois is swaddled more layers of government than any other state in the U.S.

Maintaining that high volume of bureaucracy is highly costly – and contributes to homeowners' sky-high property tax bills. But the state's elected political leaders don't make it easy for taxpayers to have a voice on how much government they're willing to pay for.

Should voters have more power to to rein in their government – and the various costs associated with it – at the ballot box when Election Day comes around?

Illinois Policy Institute Vice President of Marketing Austin Berg joined @wttw to make the case for voter control over the size and scope of local government in Illinois.

#politics #government #illinois

[tattedandgatted]

Government especially sucks here in IL. They are the root of all our problems. Democracy is dangerous. We live in a constitutional republic where you cannot tale our rights away because the constitution limits government power. Politicians recklessly spend our money aka taxes. I'm tired of working 55hrs a week to have 30% taken from me. State tax, sales tax, gas tax, food tax etc. After it is all said and done that 30% is much higher.

[lancecahill]

Illinois can be considered to be China of the Midwest.

[fecat]

I'm mixed. My suburban village is pretty small and is unable to provide many services that the township provides. Also there are unincorporated areas in my township and I'm unable to believe that Waukegan would provide these very local services. The county does a poor job distributing resources throughout the county.
OTOH the property taxes are crazy high and combined with the increasing fees and income taxes, which are only going to get worse so eliminating might save me a few hundred dollars a year.
The only solution is to leave Illinois, which we plan to do in the next 5 years.

[robertbender]

These areas with multiple govt juristictions need to access all their operations and see where common services can be consolidated to reduce costs.

[wfldfire]

There are 9 Townships in DuPage Addison, Bloomingdale, York, Milton, Downers Grove and Lisle all have such small unincorporated areas that one administration could handle all 6. But again the voters probably won't go along with it.