by Mark Cavers

A new 50 state study shows Illinois ranks second worst in the nation in a taxpayer versus big labor index. Last week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute launched www.workplacechoice.org, a comprehensive ranking across “23 individual aspects to determine the degree to which states favor organized labor and which favor taxpayers.” No surprise here, out of a possible score of forty points, meaning the state is pro taxpayers, Illinois scores a measly six points. Only New York was worse than Illinois in favoring big labor over taxpayers.

Illinoisans see politicians putting the interests of big labor ahead of the interest of taxpayers all the time, most recently with a 67% tax hike that went towards paying for government employee pensions. The Competitive Enterprise Institute does not even take the tax hike into account yet we still rank so poorly. Instead, they point to Illinois’s forced card check, forced unionism, and project labor agreements, and twenty other practices for our poor ranking.

Significantly, the Competitive Enterprise Institute points out that unions in Illinois have driven up spending and debt year after year, always at the expense of taxpayers. What does this mean for you? In the month of July, Illinois lost the most jobs of any state in the nation. Instead of passing policies that protect and empower the families of Illinois, legislators have continually put big labor's interests first. To see how our legislators are doing visit www.workplacechoice.org, it is a terrific tool for keeping our government accountable.