Illinois leaders keep using tax hikes as a budget quick-fix, but the state’s fiscal troubles – and the taxpayer burden – persist. Here are the 70 tax and fee hikes state leaders have imposed during the past 15 years.
By Lauren Zuar | Illinois Policy Institute
Seventy tax and fee hikes in 15 years haven’t stopped Illinois’ financial dysfunction – they’ve enabled it.
After at least 70 tax and fee increases since 2011, Illinoisans last year paid $17.3 billion more. Since 2010 all those increases in the state’s tax burden has cost Illinois taxpayers more than $110 billion in additional taxes paid.
The result of all that new money?
Illinois has the nation’s lowest emergency reserves. Its government pension crisis has worsened, with $143.7 billion in unfunded liabilities and four of the country’s worst-funded state-run systems. And forecasts show a potential $1.2 billion budget shortfall in 2026.
This isn’t because of a lack of revenue, something Gov. J.B. Pritzker has even admitted. Illinois’ core budget issue is chronic overspending, which consistently outpaces economic growth and shows no signs of slowing during the next five years.
While tax hikes haven’t saved state finances as promised, their proponents keep pushing them: a progressive income tax, higher gas and liquor taxes, expanding sales taxes to services and new levies on everything from Netflix to soda to storage units. The Chicago Teachers Union and its allies recently proposed a $7.3 billion tax plan for 2026, including new taxes on digital ads and capital gains.
The result of too many tax hikes and too few results?
Illinois’ combined state and local tax burden is the seventh-highest in the nation in one analysis and No. 1 in another, voter trust is eroding and residents and businesses are leaving for lower-cost states. Over 420,000 residents have left since 2020. New polling found 54% of Illinois voters said high taxes were the state’s top issue, and nearly half said they’d consider moving.
Before the General Assembly’s 2026 budget deadline concludes and lawmakers float new tax ideas, here’s a look at Illinois’ hikes since 2011.
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