Illinois lacks competitive advantage

LAWRENCE BAY had this published in the July 18 Quad-City Times. ..... marks paragraph breaks. "The Quad-City Times has been bemoaning the lack of progress and prosperity in the Illinois Quad-Cities. Perhaps supporting some much-needed reforms in Illinois would help the entire Quad-Cities region prosper. ..... Illinois has far too many layers of government. Illinois school districts should be consolidated. These bloated bureaucracies add to the cost of government. Illinois could deliver more services and have better schools with lower taxes through consolidation. Repealing the Prevailing Wage Act would enable far more construction at lower cost, allowing Illinois to improve our roads, schools and other government buildings without raising taxes. ..... Illinois is losing businesses and residents because of high taxes and onerous regulations. These figures from Illinois Policy illustrate the problem: Every neighboring state has lower workers compensation insurance than Illinois. For every 1,000 steel fabricators earning $40,000 per year, an Illinois company would save $2,704,000 by locating in Iowa, $3,132,000 in Indiana or $3,440,000 in Kentucky. ..... Every bordering state has lower average property taxes than Illinois' $3,939 per year; Iowa's is $2,542 and Indiana's is $1,507. ..... Iowa and Indiana do not have a Prevailing Wage Act. Illinois is almost completely surrounded by right-to-work states that are gaining jobs while Illinois falls further behind. ..... We should all help Illinois become competitive with its neighboring states."