Hello, Goodbye! Redux on ‘Quincy’s Calling’ and a quick look at real estate transfers

I observed several months back that Quincy says “Hello” and Illinois says “Goodbye!” A key reason?  The Illinois tax structure.  

Muddy River News is publishing real estate transfers.  Take of look at where the sellers, many area homeowners, now claim residence.

An example would be the Adams County transfers from Aug. 15-19. The sellers included people from Estes Park, Colo., Yellville, Ark., Holton, Mich., Clarksville, Tenn., Elmwood, Tenn., Brentwood, Tenn., and Saint Charles, Mo..

More examples can be found in the Adams County transfers from Aug. 8-12 (sellers were from Johns Island, S.C., Hobe Sound, Fla., Lexington, Ky., and Oshkosh, Wis.) and in the Adams County transfers from Aug. 1-5 (sellers were from Lexington, Ky., Keokuk, Iowa, Mooresville, N.C., Lindon, Utah, Columbia, Mo., Fortville, Ind., Des Moines, Iowa, Canton, S.D., Columbia, Tenn., Bangor, Maine, Claxton, Ga., and, Kirkwood, Mo.

Surely some folks are moving because of family or other reasons.  I’d venture, though, that our state’s tax structure played a role in many moves.

It’s great for Quincy to be “Calling,” but our public officials on local and state levels might do more good calling for real tax reform.  Hell … demand it!  

As a thought … submit and publicize legislation each session making tax law changes. When any bill comes up for amendment, throw tax reform in the mix.  Make it an issue.

Will anyone listen?  Likely not. This is Illinois, after all.   

Let’s at least study why folks are leaving our communities so perhaps we can ebb the flow.

The governor doesn’t seem concerned about the Illinois out-migration, but he should be. According to a report from MoveBuddha.com, Illinois ranks third in the country for outbound moves.

What about taking bets on whether Gov. Pritzker and his family will be packing bags after leaving office?  

Might be a safe bet.

Jim Rapp has been practicing law for nearly 50 years and has been published and speaks extensively on estate planning, business, education law, civil rights and other legal matters. He is a founding partner of Muddy River News LLC.