gift link will work for everyone https://www.wsj.com/opinion/illinoi...4?st=mb8eXh&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink Secession From Illinois Is in the Air Multiple counties want to leave, and Indiana says come on over. By The Editorial Board Feb. 7, 2025 at 6:20 pm ET As states grow more politically polarized, the difference between good and bad governance is coming into sharper relief for voters. Enough people are noticing in Illinois that some counties want to secede from the Land of Lincoln and join a state that isn’t ruled by public unions and their political yes-men. In November, to little national notice, seven Illinois counties voted to consider seceding, and now Indiana is rolling out the welcome mat. Voters in Iroquois, Calhoun, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Madison and Perry counties approved a nonbinding ballot question on cutting ties with Illinois. The votes weren’t close. Six of the seven counties approved the advisory question by more than 70%. Iroquois County’s vote was some 72%, and Calhoun County’s near 76%. Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston says the Illinois counties would be more than welcome to come on over. On Jan. 14 the Republican introduced legislation to establish the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission, which would include five members appointed by the Indiana Governor and five members appointed under Illinois law, to discuss moving the state line. “We think instead of seceding and creating a 51st state, [Illinois residents] should just join us,” Mr. Huston said. The attraction is obvious for Illinois residents. The nearby table provides a tale of the tape on some quality of governance and ease of doing business comparisons. Both states have flat individual income taxes, but Indiana’s rate is 3.05% compared to 4.95% in Illinois. The corporate tax rate in Indiana is 4.9% compared to 9.5% in Illinois. The Illinois fiscal mess is so great that pressure will keep building to raise taxes again and again. Pension debt was $144 billion in 2024, up from $16 billion in 2000, according to Wirepoints and the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker called the secession idea a “stunt” and derided Indiana as a “low-wage state that doesn’t protect workers, a state that does not provide healthcare for people when they’re in need.” Illinois has a higher average income, but that’s a legacy of the state and city of Chicago’s economic glory days, which are long past. Mr. Pritzker is essentially claiming the superiority of his welfare-state, public-union governance model. But fewer people are buying it. Since 2020, 33 Illinois counties have voted to consider breaking away from the state. Voters from rural Illinois feel alienated from the progressive governance of Springfield, where Democrats control all three branches of state government and the citizens of red counties have little influence other than to write checks to fund higher public-union benefits. Illinois saw the third highest state out-migration of people in the country, according to census data from October 2024. The state lost 93,247 residents in 2023, after losing 116,000 in 2022 and 141,000 in 2021. Indiana gained 30,000 residents in 2023. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says “no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.” This makes secession a high bar, since it would require Springfield’s agreement and approval from Congress. But maybe progressive lawmakers would be happy to be rid of those red counties so they aren’t regularly embarrassed by their votes to secede. Illinois Republican Rep. Brad Halbrook has introduced legislation for Illinois’s participation in the boundary commission. When he runs for President in 2028, perhaps Gov. Pritzker can explain to voters why so many of his citizens want to flee his brand of tax-and-spend governance. Appeared in the February 8, 2025, print edition as 'Secession From Illinois Is in the Air'.
There is a greater Idaho movement that would expand Idaho by bringing in eastern Oregon, Washington and some of California. If it were to happen I would be out of here faster than a hobo on a ham sandwich. It’s all the counties that are dependent on the money from those “Liberal hell holes”. Idaho already has severe budget problems and now they want to add more of the same. Also, the last line on tax and spend democrats. I will take tax and spend over cut and spend republicans everyday of the week.
moving right along gift link: An Escape Route From Illinois Indiana takes the first step toward welcoming Land of Priztker counties that want to secede. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/indiana...7?st=S1a8CH&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink excerpt: The plan to give beleaguered Illinois taxpayers an escape route from their confiscatory state has moved a little closer to reality. On Thursday the Indiana state House voted 69-25 to pass a bill that would start discussions to let some Illinois counties secede and join Indiana. The bill, sponsored by Republican House Speaker Todd Huston, would establish the Indiana half of the Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission to discuss letting some Illinois counties make a new home in the Hoosier state. Illinois needs to approve its own bill to join the commission. “Hey, we’d love to have you,” Mr. Huston told Illinois counties, “Because you know what? We always think it’s better to be growing.” If Illinois residents are struggling with the state’s 4.95% income-tax rate and 9.5% corporate income-tax rate, Indiana would like to “raise our hand,” Mr. Huston added, “to say we think we have a heck of a lot to offer.” more at the link
Illinois looming financial problems are STAGGERING. A large percentage of business owners in the Chicago area have relocated to Florida. Why do Democrats ruin the finances of everything they touch?
Illinois isn't going to break away from the Union and they really will not need to as long as Pritzker is governor. As far as there being parts of Illinois that want to not be in Illinois - this has always been the case. Illinois is largely controlled by Chicago and the massive Chicago suburbs because it is such a population and economic center. Chicago basically poaches all the highly educated people in the Mid-West because of it's economic impact. Anything South of Dekalb Illinois is basically Alabama with a different accent, and very culturally different. As for Indiana - it is fine, but it isn't nearly as nice or as clean or organized as Chicago. Some people from Illinois that do not want to live in Alabama-lite and cannot afford to live in the Chicago land area move to Indiana. The biggest issue with Illinois is taxes, from pensions for baby boomer employees for the state and local governments... but Pritzker said he isn't raising taxes, so we will see. For 40 years there have been claims that Illinois and Cook County is going broke, and yet the streets are always clean - they pay their workers competitively, they have strong benefits for those in poverty and they keep the infrastructure in good order.
