Cartoon by Eric Allie from Illinois Policy Institute
Eric Allie hits it out of the park with the graphic above. This perfectly describes Governor JB Pritzker and his policies. A small-minded man who acts like a bully on public policy.
In reality, Pritzker is both unimaginative and a coward – believing every issue is only solved with a tax hike and afraid to stand up to the unions. It is easier to face the fleeting wrath of taxpayers than the relentless anger of unions who never forget a slight. He’s afraid of them and their power; he’s not afraid of the citizens.
So instead of shrinking the budget by getting rid of unnecessary programs, duplicate programs (how many job training programs do we have?), and auditing every dime to find the waste and fraud, he instead finds it easier to just raise taxes, tolls, and fees.
Pritzker gets away with it because the Democrat members who control both chambers are in the same boat. They know that without Pritzker or union money, winning campaigns will be much more difficult for them, and getting elected secures an easy $100,000 or more per year paycheck and benefits.
Speaker Welch even admitted that the toll increase was about keeping the unions happy with well-paying jobs.
No one should kid themselves. The toll increase was a done deal the moment Pritzker signed SB 2111 – the bill that formed the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority. It was that legislation that authorized the tollway board of directors to raise tolls and also implement a .25% sales tax increase in Cook and the collar counties. Collectively, the toll increase and sales tax increase are expected to bring in $1.5 billion annually.
What’s incomprehensible is that Illinois Policy Institute is reporting that:
“The tollway consistently collects more in toll revenue than needed for the roads. In 2025 the system collected a record $1.75 billion in tolls, $1.3 billion more than it spent on maintenance and operations. The just-approved construction will create more congestion that will further worsen traffic conditions for commuters.”
This sounds a lot like the road fund, which consistently had billions in excess in the account after Pritzker doubled the gas tax in 2019, with automatic CPI escalators every year. The state accumulated money by the billions that they couldn’t even spend. It takes time to permit and plan major road construction, and then the crews have to be available.
But, just like your school district that is afraid to leave any money on the table and so they tax to the max every year because the next year’s max is based off the max levied the year before, the Dems running the show in Illinois always feel compelled to extract every possible penny – or nickel (now that pennies are discontinued) from the taxpayer that they can.
A 57% increase in passenger tolls and a 30% increase in truck tolls. Not a 5% increase, or even 10%. No discussion of cost-cutting measures. No assurances that the money will be used and not stuffed in an account to accrue interest that can then be siphoned off to bail out pensions. That, by the way, is EXACTLY what happened inside the NITA bill.
The road fund had accumulated so much money from the gas tax increase that couldn’t be spent in a timely manner, so they decided the interest on the money would be diverted to the CTA. The CTA just happens to have a pension fund that is way underfunded, and the money from your gas taxes is going to bail it out.
So the question now is, as the tollway fund accumulates excess reserves, what program or pension bailout will the interest eventually be siphoned off for?
Since elected leaders won’t say no to higher taxes and responsible spending plans, voters must do so instead – at the ballot box this November.
No House Democrat voted against the tollway increase bill. Some cowards stayed off it and didn’t vote on it so they could say they didn’t vote for it, but don’t be fooled by that. No House Republican voted for it.
Here is the Senate Vote – One Republican, Seth Lewis, voted for it. A few Democrats voted against the bill or took a coward’s approach and didn’t vote on it.
