How economically competitive is Illinois? Not very

A new survey of economic indicators ranks Illinois 48th in the nation on 15 measures. High taxes, slow economic growth, people moving away and high public debt all pushed the state down.

A new survey shows Illinois ranking pretty low on economic indicators: 48th in the U.S.

That was Illinois’ cumulative score on 15 economic indicators tracked by the American Legislative Exchange Council Center for State Fiscal Reform in its 16th “Rich States, Poor States” report. High taxes, high public debt, high rates of people moving away and slow economic growth drove the ranking.

Illinois has always lurked in the basement, never rising above 40th in the survey on its economic outlook. It lost ground on the personal income tax rate, going from 10th in 2008 when the tax rate was 3% to 20th this year at 4.95%. Its top corporate tax rate during the same period went from 25th when it was 7.3% to 45th at the current 9.5%.

Property tax burden ranked 42nd, which has held steady during the survey.

Past economic performance was ranked by three measures that are greatly influenced by public policy. Illinois ranked 43rd on economic indicators measuring roughly the past decade.

The grim news is there are nearly 1.1 million fewer Illinoisans than a decade ago. That many folks already figured out Illinois was hostile territory to their economic wellbeing and sought greener pastures with lower taxes and greater opportunity.