The INCREDIBLE SHRINKING of Illinois: High Taxes and Low Economic Freedom Have Led to State Crisis
24th January 2018
Illinois has been losing population for four years. The state’s outmigration crisis is so bad that Illinois has dropped from the fifth-largest to the sixth-largest state, falling behind Pennsylvania. Since 2010, the Land of Lincoln lost a whopping 640,000 people on net to outmigration. The state is shrinking so rapidly that it’s at risk of losing a House seat.
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Illinois ranks near the bottom in terms of economic freedom compared with the rest of the country, according to the Fraser Institute’s recent Economic Freedom of North America, or EFNA, report, released in partnership with the Illinois Policy Institute. This report ranks states based on an index of 10 variables related to government spending, taxes and labor market freedom. Only 12 states were ranked lower. Unsurprisingly, blue states California and New York ranked at the bottom of the economic freedom list.