A prior post looked at the state’s thinking and planning concerning the gaming industry. Or maybe it’s the gaming industry’s plan, I don’t know. Maybe they put their heads together to decide the rules. Oh yeh, I think that’s called lobbying.
There’s something else that’s been rolling around in me the past couple of weeks. When one stops to really THINK about the fact that townships and local governments can TAKE from the taxpayers every year a guaranteed 5% increase on their levies (no matter what the inflation rate is)….just think about that for a minute. 5% every year…in four years that’s 20%; in 10 years’ time, that’s a whopping 50% increase in government spending (and taking from the private sector). My question is this…can the private sector ever possibly keep up with this? While many younger people are out there peddling their bikes as fast as they can to get ahead during their child rearing years, do any of them see an increase of 50% in income in 10 years? I know some may, but the average person, which is what most of us are these days, will not.
So my point is, while local governments can automatically, and by law, take an extra 5% every year and spend it, doesn’t this practice really just keep digging into the private sector’s pockets and diminishing their spending habits, which makes the economy go round and keeps business going? And this doesn’t even touch on what the state of Illinois is doing to the private sector. (“Here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a tax tax.”) What I’m touching on in this post is local governments, townships, villages, etc. It’s no wonder gaming is such a big hit around White County and a lot of money is being spent in that sector, and then the winnings too are being spent.
Here are some interesting stats from the internet about White County.
White County is 8th in Illinois out of 102 other counties in Female residents. (Hey guys, move here. There are more women to choose from.)
White County is 8th in Illinois out of 102 other counties in Residents 65 or older. (If they are going by income taxes to make the median income, this age group would not be it necessarily, but some in this age group have provided for themselves by saving, however this would not be working income, as younger age groups would have.)
White County is 9th in Illinois out of 102 other counties in Race – White, not Hispanic or Latino.
White County is 15th in Illinois out of 102 other counties in Residents younger than 5.
White County is 17th in Illinois out of 102 other counties in Race – White,
To sum it up, White County has a lot of females, and if they are young, they are raising children, hence the higher population under the age of five also. And if they are divorced, they are most likely in a very low income bracket. White County has a lot of over-65-year-olds. Many in this group are struggling to get by also due to life circumstances. I have heard it said this is a good county to retire in, but the person never said why. White County is predominantly caucasian in race. Not sure that means anything, but it might.
Here are figures of the median income for White County, which I was surprised to see. I thought those figures would be lower, but we are an oil-producing county, so perhaps that bumps it up a bit.
2018: $49,507 (+ more)
Updated: Dec 13, 2019
Not sure what (+more) means., but almost $50,000 is not a bad median income to have. But if Walmart is the largest employer in the county, that wage would not apply to the majority of those employees.
If you are so inclined to continue reading, here are some interesting stats about the state of Illinois at large. The median population growth must be a mistake, because the stats claim an increase, but the numbers stayed the same. Not sure how they figured that, or it could just be government-think.
From https://datausa.io/profile/geo/illinois/
In 2017, Illinois had a population of 12.8M people with a median age of 38 and a median household income of $62,992. Between 2016 and 2017 the population of Illinois grew from 12.8M to 12.8M, a 0.00378% increase and its median household income grew from $60,960 to $62,992, a 3.33% increase. (This seems hard to believe.)
The population of Illinois is 61.2% White Alone, 17.2% Hispanic or Latino, and 14% Black or African American Alone. 23.5% of the people in Illinois speak a non-English language, and 92.9% are U.S. citizens.
The median property value in Illinois is $195,300, and the homeownership rate is 66.2%. Most people in Illinois commute by Drove Alone, and the average commute time is 27.7 minutes. The average car ownership in Illinois is 2 cars per household.
The economy of Illinois employs 6.01M people.
The largest industries in Illinois are Restaurants & Food Services (382,623 people), Apparently us Illinoisans like to eat!
Elementary & secondary schools (353,850 people),
I’m actually surprised this is considered industry. These are public sector jobs, which must be supported by the private sector. There is no direct private sector interest here. It is entirely supported by other people’s money since it generates none of its own. But I suppose we could attribute indirect private sector interest when the schools turn out productive members of society who start businesses or work in the private sector. I wonder what the stats on that might show.
Hospitals (313,180 people), and the highest paying industries are Securities, commodities, funds, trusts & other financial investments ($162,577), Petroleum refining($114,177), and Computer & peripheral equipment manufacturing ($113,871).
Median household income in Illinois is $62,992. Males in Illinois have an average income that is 1.37 times higher than the average income of females, which is $53,388. The income inequality in Illinois (measured using the Gini index) is 0.482, which is higher than than the national average.
So there you have it, some food for thought on a Saturday morning.
Update: In discussion with a friend, it was pointed out that the 5% increase in levies every year is on the current levy, which, as it increases each year and 5% of that amount is added to it, actually makes the total increases much higher than 20% in four years and 50% in 10 years because the base amount keeps increasing.
