Issues
My Public Policy Plan for Illinois.
ECONOMY: The state of Illinois Gross State Product is 782 billion with a population of 12,671, 821 people. Manufacturing produces 101 billion dollars. Chemical manufacturing 16.6 billion. Food manufacturing 14.4 billion. Machinery manufacturing 13.6 billion. Fabricated metal products 10.5 billion. Plastics and rubber 6.8 billion. Transportation 6.7 billion. Computer and electronics 6.4. billion. The economy is the worst in the U.S. behind Kentucky. We have suffered business and job losses due to the COVID mandates. We need to reinvest in business. Attract industry back to Illinois with tax incentives and subsidies. The more companies means more tax revenue. Jobs equals spending to stimulate the economy.
TAXES: Illinois has a flat tax of 4.95% ( individual income tax rate) 9.50 corporate tax rate. State sales tax rate is: 6.25. Under Pritzker Illinoians are paying $2,165 more in taxes. We need to prevent any progressive taxes. We need to trim our budget of needless spending to prevent the raising of taxes. We need common sense spending. My plan includes cutting taxes including the senior real estate tax that's excessive.
JOBS: Currently there are 8 million people working in Illinois.The per capita disposable income is $56,839 (14 out of 50 states) Chicago produces 77% of the state's wages. The poverty rate is 12%. We need to attract more Manufacturing to Illinois. We need to provide more training for Cyber which is the next generation of job employment with inexpensive trade schooling.
PENSIONS: 26% of the Illinois budgets take up the Illinois budgets for taxes. Illinois is facing a pending pension collapse with some public pensions funded at only 20% Most Unions invest in hedge funds If the economy and the markets suffer so will Union investment returns. The standard return rate is 6%. We need to cut off nepotism and cronyism in government. For far too long Illinois politicians hand out pensions for political favors including themselves. We need to reduce the government and restructure the public pensions. Pensioners deserve protected pensions. Not to have their union funds treated as a loan bank with no returns.
UNIONS: 12.5 billion dollars in residential and non residential construction. There is a cut in Union work because manufacturing, capital projects and building have been cut due to the economy. There is no money to build homes or produce goods. Manufacturing has fled to China and Mexico because of wages. We need to rebuild our economy. Currently we pay $50,000 more just in lumber costs. We need to reinvest in infrastructure and building. When you do that manufacturing follows. We need to make more in America and Illinois, attracting industry with incentives to invest in Illinois.
FARMS: Illinois biggest crops are corn and soybeans. Farmers are under threat over climate change. Farm lands want to be used for solar and wind farms. 30% of farms are dedicated to the production of ethanol for fuel. 50% is dedicated to trade. We need to fight the green deal. If the Democrats succeed. Thousands of farms will shut down including their support such as refineries, truck drivers, gas stations. We need to protect and reinvest in farms for more output not less. It's a valuable commodity.
SCHOOL CHOICE: The Illinois public school system (prekindergarten through grade 12) operates within districts governed by locally elected school boards and superintendents. Illinois has 2,072,880 students enrolled in a total of 4,266 schools in 1,070 school districts. There are 135,701 teachers in the public schools, or roughly one teacher for every 15 students, compared to the national average of 1:16. There was roughly one administrator for every 278 students, compared to the national average of one administrator for every 295 students. On average Illinois spent $12,288 per pupil in 2013, which ranked it 14th highest in the nation. 70% of real estate taxes are dedicated to school districts. Most of the school budget goes to salaries and pensions. The students are left with nothing. There are fewer schools because less people are having children. We need to restructure our spending to open the door for parents to place their children in private schools with public funding or using rebates or vouchers for private education.
HEALTHCARE: 25% of the Illinois population is on Medicare and Medicaid. Many are on this program that are not qualified for. Illinois is practicing socialized healthcare. We need to overhaul our public healthcare system. We do not need socialization and free healthcare. We need a better screening system prior to Medicare and Medicaid being provided.
SENIOR CARE: Illinois seniors are suffering due to the lack of clinics and hospitals and the increase of medications. Currently they lack transportation to doctors and collect their medications including access to food. We need to start paying our bills to Illinois doctors, hospitals and clinics. We need travel vouchers for seniors to transport them for services and groceries. We need the right to try for medical cures. We also need to reduce the costs of medications which are unaffordable now.
VETERAN CARE: Illinois has 559,656 veterans. Illinois provides only 6 homes for veterans. One (Prince Home) only occupies 15. For too long veterans homes have been mismanaged contributing to many veteran deaths due to the spread of diseases because of poor healthcare and management. We need more funds to build new veteran nursing homes and we need housing vouchers for homeless veterans including placement for permanent homes.
CRIME: 1,353 homicides in 2021. Because of lax criminal enforcement, violent crimes are on the rise. Illinois is the hub of the Sinaloa drug cartel feeding drugs to all the states. Gang enrollment is up. Most violent offenses including carjackings are committed by minors. Chicago is suffering the most because of lack of action by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. In Chicago alone only 25% of homicides are solved with only half of the 12% going to prison for murder. When elected I will find funding to hire more Police. Our State Police needs to go on the offensive with hundreds of more troopers assigned to task forces for: Drug interdiction on highways, undercover drug agents, State gang units, gun trace units dedicated to violent felons, cold case squads to solve open homicides, public corruption units.
DRUG AWARENESS: 3,000 overdose deaths with 20,000 calls to overdoses. Drug dealing is on the rise fueling overdoses. Fentynal causes many of these deaths because of how potent it is. Officers are suffering from overdoses from coming in contact with drugs during arrests. We need to partner with federal Police to challenge the drug cartels. Creating agency task forces with federal law enforcement to capture drug mules on our highways. To create more penalties for drug offenses including the dealers. We need more prevention programs in schools to prevent drug use.
ILLINOIS CORRUPTION: Illinois is the first in the nation for public corruption. We need a public integrity Police investigative unit to investigate crooked politicians. We need stiffer penalties for corruption. We need to restructure our laws to trim donations from certain donors and lobbyists. We need more transparency in politicians' funding including them reporting how much they make including salaries.