Kendall County Times

Kendall County GOP Chairman James Marter said that Chicagoans are overtaxed, and voters "need to step up" in response to a Truth in Accounting report, which gave the city an "F" grade in its latest Financial State of the Cities report.

"Easily, we are (overtaxed)," Marter told the Kendall County Times, referring to Illinois residents. "With what we do with property taxes, motor fuel taxes, income taxes and sales taxes, we are the most overtaxed state in the union. On top of that, the state creates even more debt that it can’t pay and that comes to contribute to all the inflation and other downturns we have."

A Feb. 10 Illinois Policy report said Chicago trails only New York with the second-highest ratio of debt-to-taxpayer, at $41,900.

"That means each of the city’s taxpayers would have to send a check for that amount to City Hall just to pay the bills Chicago has accumulated over the years," the Illinois Policy report states, adding that New York has a per-taxpayer debt burden of $56,900.

Marter added that Chicago's dwindling population isn't helping ease the debt burden.

"It goes hand and hand," he said. "Between the taxes and crime, Chicago is no longer a destination city. People are just trying to find a way out, and no one wants to go there."

The high debt burden persists despite improvements from one-time federal COVID-19 aid and unusually high pension investment returns, Illinois Policy reported.

Illinois Policy states that Chicago had just $10.6 billion in assets available to pay bills totaling nearly $48.8 billion, and the total bills were more than 2.5 times higher than third-ranked Philadelphia’s $19.5 billion, yet another indicator of just how much the city is struggling with debt and spending, Marter said.

"Beyond a miracle, we need voters to step up and be more responsible," he said. "Right now, too many people are brainwashed and we have too many people in politics that just sell out the people once they gain that power."

The growth in Chicago’s pension and debt service costs now eat up nearly 43% of the city’s budget, and after massive increases in recent years, the city has more than doubled its property tax levy in recent years to keep up the payments, Illinois Policy reported.