Later this year the Illinois Policy Institute will publish the next edition of the wildly popular Piglet. This project highlights wasteful spending at the state and local level in Illinois. Piglet provides Illinoisans with a unique opportunity to see how their tax dollars are being spent and to hold their lawmakers accountable.

This year, you can help.

You can help by sending us examples of wasteful spending happening in your neck-of-the-woods. All ideas are welcome and photographs are encouraged. The best examples of wasteful spending in Illinois will make it into Piglet!

Examples of waste from past Piglets and other Institute publications include spending:

    •    $2,822 on hot sauce
    •    $4,986 on cooler rentals
    •    $10,000 on a Batman movie gala
    •    $144,000 on statewide migratory water fowl restoration

Adam Smith, the father of economic science, believed government has three core duties: national defense, maintaining an impartial rule of law and creating and maintaining certain public works and public institutions in a way that encourages consumer choice and competition. Wasteful spending falls outside of these core government services and it is time for it to stop in Illinois.

Send your Piglet ideas to: Benjamin VanMetre, Senior Budget and Tax Policy Analyst, by email: bvanmetre@illinoispolicy.org.  Or tweet them to @illinoispolicy using the hashtag #piglet.