We have too many elected officials who only think in one direction: how do I generate more money in taxes to cover expenses? That thinking makes their lives easier at the expense of taxpayers.
What we don’t have is enough elected officials serving the taxpayers who ask the question: What can I do to cut back on spending and improve services?
I’ll give you an example of how elected officials ignore the serious issues and instead focus on nooks and crannies that they use to make themselves look good.
With all of the taxes we have that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has forced upon Illinois residents during his eight years in office; the last thing we need is another tax.
But that is exactly what state Rep. Laura Faver Dias wants to do: Make us pay more money for a convenience needed to carry groceries out of the store.
Instead of looking at ways to reduce constantly increasing sales taxes, utility fees for water, electricity, and gas, Dias wants you to pay more in taxes when you grocery shop.
The problem in Illinois, one of the worst states when it comes to taxes and fees, is that most elected officials see only one solution to the state’s problems: throw more money at those problems. That is what Dias is doing.
Their secondary priority is how to give themselves and their supporters more money and bigger pensions.
Dias doesn’t dare touch that. It’s easier to hike taxes than cut back on high pensions. The Dias Tax imposes a 10-cent fee on each carryout bag used by hardworking, self-sufficient consumers. It will increase by 5 cents every year up to 25 cents.
People on SNAP and other public assistance programs would be exempt.
I hate plastic. It is overused and a threat to human existence. Stop using plastic bags. Use recyclable paper bags. Offer food discounts to shoppers who bring their own bags when grocery shopping. Don’t tax them.
Ironically, stores that hand out the bags would get some of Dias’ tax money.
I have a better idea.
How about cutting and limiting salaries and pensions at our schools, and at government jobs for administrators and executives? Schools account for more than 60 percent of our property taxes, and the majority of schools are doing a lousy job teaching kids anything.
How about cutting back the size of our bloated governments?
Hardworking Illinois taxpayers are suffering under the growing weight of excessive pensions given to government and union administrators in exchange for their votes. School administrators and executives are obscenely overpaid and drive up our school taxes.
Why do you think so many unions surrounded Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias when he announced for Chicago mayor? He’ll lean on them to get 40,000 petition signatures and votes in the February 23, 2027, Mayoral Open Primary Election. They will lean back on him for higher wages, pensions, and other benefits.
How about encouraging illegal aliens to become legal citizens by not subsidizing their challenges?
Go to my website at CourageousThought.com, where I detail Pritzker’s failures to solve our immigration and illegal citizenship problems and instead help them swell.
We have real problems in Illinois that are not being addressed properly because some of our officials are afraid to take on the powers.
How about making criminals pay more for their crimes?
Why do we protect utility companies? (They donate to the elected officials).
Illinois American Water regularly increases rates on consumers, falsely claiming they need to cover costs. Really? Why do they enjoy an average of $1 billion in net surplus profits each year?
They don’t need a rate hike. Pritzker’s five appointees on the Illinois Commerce Commission are paid about $200,000 a year, don’t attend public hearings and don’t hear the problems consumers face, especially seniors who must cut back on water usage because they are on fixed incomes.
I am tired of a system that elects idiots to public office, candidates who say they care about the taxpayers but in the end spend all their time kissing special interest ass to garner their own benefits.
I want someone tough to fight for us. Someone who isn’t afraid to call out wrong and not worry about those who pander to special interests at the expense of the larger public need.
They are there. But they are not the candidates surrounded by the unions, elected officials who increase our taxes and do nothing about unjustified utility fee hikes, or who don’t have huge election campaign funds filled with special-interest money.
For more info on these topics, go to CourageousThought.com.