Illinois Among Nation’s Biggest Losers in Wealth Exodus Under Stratton Policies
SPRINGFIELD — A new report is confirming what Illinois families and businesses have experienced for years: wealth, opportunity, and economic growth are leaving high-tax, high-cost blue states like Illinois and heading to states with lower taxes, lower costs, and more economic freedom.
According to a new report from the New York Post, Illinois lost an estimated $399 billion in adjusted gross income between 2012 and 2023, making it one of the biggest losers in America when it comes to wealth outmigration. Only New York and California lost more. Meanwhile, states like Florida and Texas saw enormous economic gains as families, workers, retirees, and job creators relocated.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Tracy said the report is another warning sign about the direction Illinois is heading under the policies championed by Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton and her allies.
“Families and businesses are leaving Illinois because life has become too expensive, government has become too extreme, and opportunity is becoming harder to find,” said Tracy.
The report found that nearly $2 trillion in economic growth shifted from blue states to red states over the last decade, with Illinois ranking third nationally in wealth losses behind only New York and California.
“If Juliana Stratton’s ‘Illinois Blueprint’ is already driving families, jobs, investment, and opportunity out of Illinois, why would anyone want that blueprint to become the model for the entire country?
“Working families are already stretched thin by higher grocery bills, utility costs, gas prices, housing expenses, and healthcare costs. Meanwhile, politicians like Juliana Stratton continue pushing the same tax-and-spend policies that are driving people out of states like Illinois, New York, and California.
“You cannot tax, regulate, and spend your way to prosperity. At some point, families and employers decide they’ve had enough and they leave. That’s exactly what we are seeing happen in Illinois.
“I’ve spent my career working with families, farmers, and small businesses across Illinois. I understand what happens when government policies make it harder to succeed. Illinoisans deserve common sense leadership focused on making life more affordable and supporting the American Dream, not more of these extreme policies that drive people and opportunity out of our state.”
Don Tracy is available for phone, video, and in-studio interviews on this issue.
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About Don Tracy:
Don is Senior Counsel at Brown, Hay & Stephens, the oldest law firm in Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln famously practiced law for four years. Public service is important to Don, with a lifetime spent in community service, most often in volunteer positions. He has served as Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board, Secretary of the Illinois Bar Foundation, President of the Sangamon County Bar Association, Chairman of the Illinois Corporate Acts Advisory Committee, and President of the Abraham Lincoln Association, President of the Oak Ridge Cemetery Board, among other community leadership positions. Born in Urbana, raised in Mt. Sterling in Western Illinois, and having raised his own family in Springfield in Central Illinois, Don has deep ties to "downstate Illinois." As the oldest of 12 children, family has always been important to Don.