How Money Walks Author Briefs Illinois Lawmakers

Reps Anthony, Kay, Morrison & Reis 

In a presentation to Republican lawmakers, Travis H. Brown, author of How Money Walks shared his findings on the effects of population migration on the fiscal health of states.

Representatives David Reis, David Leitch and Renee Kosel hosted the presentation.

Data maps showed gains and losses of population and adjusted gross income (AGI) at several levels of government. Key findings for Illinois:

• Between 1992 and 2010, Illinois lost $29.27 billion in net AGI
• Between 1985 and 2010, 536, 963 people moved out of Illinois
• Florida gained $6.77 billion of Illinois' lost AGI

According to Rep. Tom Morrison, "Behavior does change when you change tax rates...we need people to migrate to Illinois to have a thriving economy."

Mr. Brown suggested Illinois take a look at its taxing policies and consider that states like Florida and Texas with 0 income tax are gaining AGI while at the same time Illinois is losing income.