Posted on 12/22/2011 5:19:29 PM PST by Iam1ru1-2
Former State Senator and Republican Cook County Board President candidate Roger Keats and his wife Tina left Illinois to live in Texas. They bid farewell to their Illinois friends in a Wilmette Beacon article, and with this letter, saying they’re “voting with their feet and their wallets.”
GOOD BYE AND GOOD LUCK
As we leave Illinois for good, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and wish all of you well. I am a lifelong son of the heartland and proud of it. After 60 years, I leave Illinois with a heavy heart. BUT enough is enough! The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here. I remember when Illinois had 25 congressmen. In 2012 we will have 18. Compared to the rest of the country we have lost 1/4th of our population. Don’t blame the weather, because I love 4 seasons.
Illinois just sold still more bonds and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds! Junk Bonds!
Illinois is ranked:
50th for fiscal policy
47th in job creation
1st in unfunded pension liabilities
2nd largest budget deficit
1st in failing schools
1st in bonded indebtedness
Highest sales tax in the nation
Most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat) 5 of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted.
That is more than the other 49 states added together!
Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1000 state and municipal employees indicted. The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand up comics.
We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks. A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire police and fire!
Our Crook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House (Spkr. Mike Madigan) and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their clients’ tax assessments.
We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax, while Illinois’ just went up 67%. Texas sales tax is ½ of ours, which is the highest in the nation. Southern states are supportive of job producers, tax payers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents. Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them.
In The Hill Country of Texas (near Austin and San Antonio ) we bought a gracious[1] home on almost 2 acres with a swimming pool. It is new, will cost us around 40% of what our home in Wilmette just sold for and the property taxes are 1/3rd of what they are here. Cook County’s property tax system is a disaster: Wilmette homes near ours sell for 50% more and their property taxes are ½ of ours. Our assessed home value was 50% higher than the sales price. The system is unfair and incompetent.
Our home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20% and our local schools have still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes over 20% in one year.
I could go on, but enough is enough. I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Titanic and I can see the icebergs right in front of us. I will miss our friends a great deal. I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life. But it is time to go where there is honest, competent and cost effective government. We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets.
My best to all of you and Good luck!
“How many people are leaving Texas to move to Illinois nowadays??????”
About as many as climbed the wall to get from West to East Berlin.
I don't know, there might be others on the cusp. My brother and his wife, a couple 1%ers, were debating it. The high taxes and brutal winter were the driving factors. When Illinois doubled state income taxes, this year, they moved to North Carolina. It involves a bit more business travel, but both them stayed with their companies and the drop in tax liability is being made up in the first year.
The way things are going ,Chicago is bucking to become the next Detroit.
Just look at Obama and the scum covered minions he brought with him to DC. As corrupt as DC was, I really am amazed at just how corrupt it's become. I really didn't think it could possibly be this bad.
Mark
Yes, I understand. An instance of the ship deserting the sinking rats.
Be careful what you wish for. Amarillo's digging out from a blizzard, and is going to 14 tonight. I moved from the Texas Panhandle to Michigan for Michigan's warmer climate.
My brother is still in his “honeymoon” phase, but he loves the Raleigh area. His boys (9) commented how nice it was to go to a football game wearing the wrong team’s jersey and not get cussed at by the home team fans.
The US will be lucky to survive the two current (and one recent) Illinois senator we have now. For God's sake we don't need the two more Illinois senators that Cook County would get. From Cook County, we'd be guaranteed two more corrupt far left loons.
On the other hand, I've heard that the compact admitting Texas to the Union allowed it to split into up to five states. Ten Texas senators; that I could deal with.
Drove through the panhandle once on our way to camping out west. It was a hell hole of mirages, flat land,gas stations few and far between and everyone had those bags of water hanging out of their trunks....my neice lived down by the gulf and it was nice.
Most of Cook County and the area around East St. Louis are uninformed. The rest of the state for the most part can be considered conservative. There are just too many illegals and others beholden to government voting in these two areas to make a difference.
You might consider Amarillo. It gets rather hot in the summer, but in the winter, the only thing between it and the North Pole is a barbed wire fence, and 3 strands are down. (^;
When driving from the DFW area to Colorado or Northern New Mexico, few people get beyond Lubbock before they just pull over to the side of the road...and shoot themselves.
As a naturalized Texan, I can tell you that you'll never find a place like that in this state. You won't have to deal with humidity so much in the western half of the state, but you're still gonna sweat in summer.
That holds true for pretty much the entire south-western US.
That one gets a belly laugh.....
Did you read the guy's article? There's no doubt whatsoever that he's a conservative who's had enough of blue country.
Damn. I feel for ya. I was born and raised in Cali, but I've lived in Texas since late 2005. You couldn't get me to move back to California for love or money, and I mean that sincerely.
I'd rather be poor in Texas, than rich in California. At least Texas treats me like a free man.
“Sadly, I’m actually leaving Texas for California. Sigh. Why? Believe it or not, a job that is just too good to pass up.”
It better be REALLY good, because I figure it would take 3x our present salaries to maintain my present standard of living in KY (for what it is). It may be only 2x coming from Texas.
Daniel Boone had good taste in geographical locations. Outside of Texas, I think Pensacola, Florida is one of my favorite places. I've told my wife that if we ever chose to leave Texas, that's where I'd want to go. I love that place.
Had to laugh. Done that drive too many times.
My son moved to the Davis Mountains. He loves it there. It’s just north of Big Bend.
The hill country near Austin is great.
I live in the Dallas area. The climate is usually good. This summer was the pits but usually it’s bearable and everything is air conditioned. We have beautiful fall weather as a rule, and only a couple of cold months.
“Sadly, I’m actually leaving Texas for California. Sigh. Why? Believe it or not, a job that is just too good to pass up.”
It better be REALLY good, because I figure it would take 3x our present salaries to maintain my present standard of living in KY (for what it is). It may be only 2x coming from Texas.
he was already counted in the 2010 census, so somebody will be voting for him in ILL and he will be represented there until Jan 2023.
People, you have 8 years to relocate before the next census.
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