Anyone seriously thinking about leaving Illinois (Chicago, Cicero: mortgage, home, to buy)

[prhill]

Originally Posted by Bitey

Not just that taxes went up, but that they did nothing to address the structural problems that got us into this fiscal mess to begin with. So now we have higher taxes AND looming insolvency.

Good point!

[beaniemac]

I left last week for texas for a new job. no more state taxes. no bag taxes, no more high sales taxes.

[Bluefox]

Originally Posted by edsg25

right. everyone is abandoning Illinois. Why not? Everything is so much better in the other states.

Edsg25, I think you are a great poster and have a lot of respect for you. But the "me and mine first" mentality of Illinois politicians, particularly the democrats, is leading to the ruination of the state. I say this as more of a lefty myself. They have really screwed up the state on a systemic level for their own personal gain. They have altered the very laws of the state to make their unethical practices legal. If they cannot be indicted by a court of law (which has also been corrupted) then you know what? They need to be indicted by the Census Bureau. If it has to get worse before things change, so be it. But these politicians need to be held accountable for their rather depraved and reckless actions that have led to the state in which Illinois finds itself. I commend Rauner for standing up to them, particularly Madigan. Nobody else has the cajones to.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by beaniemac

I left last week for texas for a new job. no more state taxes. no bag taxes, no more high sales taxes.

Sorry to hear you jumped from the pan and into the fire.

Texas has more debt than Illinois and it's well hidden (Did you notice where Enron's accountants got their next job?).

Just look at the freeway system. The state does not have money to build long stretches of freeway and ends up making bonds to build tollways.

I have always said that a segment of Chicagoland tollway serves more people than a similar stretch of a freeway/tollway in a Texas metro. You have to build and maintain a highway system for 3.5 metros! This is a big state in population and land area (2nd place in both!!!).

The school districts have to keep pushing bond referendums to build schools and other educational facilities (like multi-million dollar high school football stadiums) just to keep up with the massive growth.

It's pretty obvious that Texas has to have greenfield development in the 3.5 metros. Those rice fields, farms, and ranches are being converted to suburban master-planned communities. No infrastructure--have to insert utilities from scratch (hence the MUD districts). Then schools and then highway improvements (freeway expansions/tollway building) have to be built for the glut of people moving to the 3.5 metros. The bill will be due in 50 years and it will be ugly! Illinois put the equivalent number of people in one metro, so the infrastructure is more efficient due to elimination of redundancy and can serve more people.

[yoyoniner]

Originally Posted by edsg25

Stop the moving vans! Illinois has a budget! Our legislature just performed a going-a-rauner.

lol that's a good one (assuming your sarcasm). They just raised taxes on everyone in the state, and otherwise did nothing. Everyone is talking about moving now. Unfortunately I'm stuck here.

[Illinoistransplants]

My wife and I were born and raised in Illinois. She was born in Rockford and I was born in Peoria. We lived in Elmhurst for 20 years until 2014 when we moved to Carmel Indiana. We absolutely love it here. The taxes are half of what they were in Elmhurst yet the schools and services are just as good. Traffic is a breeze and we were able to find 2 good paying jobs so our income has actually gone up by a 3rd since moving.
The only regret we have is we should of moved sooner. A lot of our friends from Illinois say the same thing.

[BRU67]

I will be the first to admit that our state and City are an embarrassing mess. But think logically. The average professional household move costs over $12k, and that's from an article from 2012, so it's probably higher now. Add that to the real estate commissions you're going to pay to sell your home, coupled with other expenses associated with a move - new furniture, painting the old house to get ready for sale, painting the new one to suit your tastes, etc. - and you're probably talking $25-30k to move out of Illinois.

So if your income taxes went up $1k per year with this new tax increase, your decision will have made financial sense in 25-30 years. And that's ignoring the higher mortgage you might incur in following the flock to high desirability area (Austin anyone?), Or your lower salary due to a "regional adjustment" (hello Nashville!). And unless the warm sun and greener grass makes the flock magically grow smarter, they will probably start electing progressives into office, which means that places like Charlotte, which currently approximately resemble the Christian ideal of heaven by most accounts, might very well end up with the same issues as Chicago in 10-15 years.

IMHO, it will be smarter for voters to focus on what went wrong and try to fix it rather than flee.

[MSchemist80]

I could easily pack a moving van and flee for $2k and I'd consider that money well spent to get away from a govt that has destroyed home ownership for the middle class and has turned govt into a major quality of life problem for residents.

I have my eyes open for opportunities in other states though I am likely stuck here for the time being. I am just sick of living with a govt that I violently and vehemently hate.

[prhill]

Originally Posted by Illinoistransplants

My wife and I were born and raised in Illinois. She was born in Rockford and I was born in Peoria. We lived in Elmhurst for 20 years until 2014 when we moved to Carmel Indiana. We absolutely love it here. The taxes are half of what they were in Elmhurst yet the schools and services are just as good. Traffic is a breeze and we were able to find 2 good paying jobs so our income has actually gone up by a 3rd since moving.
The only regret we have is we should of moved sooner. A lot of our friends from Illinois say the same thing.

Seems many people are moving to Indiana so that might be something for me to think about as well

[aga412]

Originally Posted by BRU67

And unless the warm sun and greener grass makes the flock magically grow smarter, they will probably start electing progressives into office, which means that places like Charlotte, which currently approximately resemble the Christian ideal of heaven by most accounts, might very well end up with the same issues as Chicago in 10-15 years.

IMHO, it will be smarter for voters to focus on what went wrong and try to fix it rather than flee.

That's always the funniest thing about this. New Hampshire, which had been a more decidedly red state, became purpler/bluer as folks from the Boston area moved to the Boston metro border towns to escape Massachusetts crushing taxes and nearly-equally invasive government... yet brought their politics (which created the problem there) with them across the border.

The issue is that most of these people will bring their politics with them to these more friendly metro areas and will begin to ruin them as well (though no US metro is as screwed up as Chicago's and it would take a lot of effort by Chicago migrants to make it that way).