Protect Illinois Taxpayers from Corporate Welfare

Don’t feed the Chicago Bears unnecessary tax handouts

No taxpayer dollars to the Chicago Bears!

Dear Officials:

- Arlington Park in Arlington Heights is a great location for the Chicago Bears to relocate to, but your constituents should not shoulder the costs of the move via corporate welfare handouts.
  
  Please protect taxpayers and STOP corporate welfare handouts.
  
  The Chicago Bears have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars when politicians decided to finance a Solider Field reconstruction project less than 20 years ago. If history is any lesson, it is highly likely the Bears will seek some sort of subsidy from state and local taxpayers again.
  
  We must protect state and local taxpayers against potential corporate welfare schemes which are unpopular, unfair, and damaging to the economy.
  
  An August 2021 poll by Americans for Prosperity Illinois revealed by a margin of 77% to 8% Illinoisans oppose corporate welfare for political insiders, and support providing a level playing field for all business.
  
  A 2017 poll conducted by the University of Chicago’s Initiative on Global Markets found 83 percent of the economists surveyed agreed, "Providing state and local subsidies to build stadiums for professional sports teams is likely to cost the relevant taxpayers more than any local economic benefits that are generated."
  
  The government should not be picking winners and losers in the economy by hiking taxes on some and giving those tax revenues to others. On the state and local level, officials should refrain from utilizing special taxing incentives like TIF districts, property and sales tax abatements or refunds, direct subsidies and forcing taxpayers to pay for infrastructure improvements requested by developers.
  
  I am writing to ask you to block corporate welfare programs which could negatively impact taxpayers in Arlington Heights and across the state.

Sincerely,

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In 2019 Gov. Pritzker and General Assembly members from both parties signed into law a bill doubling the gasoline tax and implementing automatic annual increases tied to inflation.

As a result, Illinoisans have the 2nd highest average gasoline taxes in the nation at 59.56 cents per gallon. Because of automatic annual increases our gas taxes are set to increase another 6 cents per gallon by July 2023, even with the 6 month delay touted by Gov. Pritzker. (Source)

Illinois residents already pay the highest state and local taxes in the nation. According to WalletHub.com, Illinois had the highest total state and local tax rates on a median U.S. household, at 15.1%, a rate that’s nearly 40% higher than the national average.

In 2022, the General Assembly & Governor Pritzker signed a law which delayed further gas tax hikes by 6 months, and forced gas station owners to post sticker on pumps about the tax hike delay. If gas station owners don’t comply they could face daily fines of up to $500. No such stickers have been or will be required to notify motorists of past or future gas tax hikes.