South Cook News

Lowering taxes can help the economy on many levels, noted Orland Park mayor Keith Pekau, a candidate for U.S. Congress.

"Working families should keep more of their hard-earned money, especially with inflation shrinking paychecks," Pekau said on Facebook recently.

A recent WalletHub report found that Illinoisans shoulder the highest tax burden in the nation, the nonprofit organization Illinois Policy reported. On average, an Illinois household pays $9,488 in taxes each year—almost 39% more than the national average. Illinoisans pay the second-highest gas tax and second-highest effective property tax rate, but Illinois' public services do not reflect the high level of taxation. Illinois has the worst pension debt in the country, so much of the state's taxpayer dollars go toward the debt.           

As of 2019, Illinois had the fourth highest outstanding government debt in the country, Statista said. Illinois' debt stood at $165.1 billion, less than only California, New York and Texas. Forty-four states and Washington, D.C., have outstanding debts of less than $100 billion.                  

Governments with large debts and deficits run the risk of exacerbating inflation, Forbes said. Inflation functions as an additional tax on consumers, while also causing uncertainty for investors, leading to slowed economic growth.

During his term as mayor, Pekau has doubled investments in the village's infrastructure while managing to reduce total operating costs by 14%, his website said. Pekau also lowered property tax rates and paid down more than $50 million of the village's debt.