"But the real story in the states has been the catastrophic effects of tax-and-spend fiscal policy in Illinois.
Last week, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan endorsed a $5 billion annual income tax hike.
This would be the largest tax increase of any state in years.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has blocked new taxes for three years but is now under intense pressure from the Springfield political machine to agree to the revenue heist.
Anyone who thinks this soak-the-rich scheme will solve Illinois' long-term budget crisis should have their head examined.
Instead, the state has been a financial basket case for years.
This is a state that is now $14.5 billion in arrears whose bonds have been downgraded to near-junk bond status, and that is losing its most valuable resource: its businesses and citizens.
Small business contractors have to wait six months or more to get paid.
Back in 2013, then-Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, followed the advice of economists like Paul Krugman of The New York Times and raised taxes on the very wealthiest residents of the state.
He argued that the superrich in Illinois could easily afford to pay a bigger share of the tax load and no one would leave.
The more Quinn raised taxes, the deeper the budget hole got.
Whole resort towns in Florida and Arizona have become high-income refugee camps of former affluent residents of Chicagoland..."
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