Is Illinois 49th on Education Spending?…Does it Have One of the Lowest State Tax Burdens?...Does it Really Have Too Few State Employees? Stay for This Answer.
Is Illinois really 49th in education spending? Do we have one of the lowest state tax burdens in the U.S.? Do you really believe that Illinois has too few state employees?
That’s just a small taste of what Center for Tax and Budget Priorities President Ralph Martire (and respectfully stated my future Chicago Daily Observer columnist colleague) used on WLS-AM’s “Political Shoot-Out” last Sunday with host Tom Roeser. He tirelessly points to these data points in testimony, columns and in interviews to justify greater government taxing, spending and intervention into our lives.
But while they reflect real numbers, they are irrelevant at best and misleading at worse.
Let me explain why.
According to a 2005 paper by Ben DeGrow of the Colorado based Independence Institute, there are at least 10 states where advocates of greater education spending (i.e. teachers unions, administrators and anyone else making a buck off public education) claim to be 49th in education spending. That alone should tell us what is going on, here.
What they do is cherry pick an area of spending, which for structural reasons tends to show a low level of spending, and cite that number as to why we are failing the children. So yes, along with at least 10 other states, Illinois is 49th in spending! Of course it’s very likely that Illinois is much higher in other areas of spending.
Lo and behold Illinois is!
According to the Federal Government’s National Center Education Statistics, Illinois spent almost $18.6 billion in 2006 on primary and secondary education. The national average is just over $8.3 billion. The total for all education in the state is $21 billion. That makes Illinois the 4th largest spender on education in the US.—a far cry from 49th.
Where Illinois ranks low is in the area of state funding for public education – not education as a whole. Here, NCES figures place the state at about 47th which means that 33% of public education’s revenue is coming from state government.
That is a low figure, but here’s why. He who pays the piper calls the tune and that’s why early on Illinois policymakers wanted education controlled locally, not by the state. In a state geographically diverse as Illinois, local control means that kids in Chicago don’t have to take hunting safety courses and rural communities don’t have to learn why “Heather Has Two Mommies.”
Makes sense doesn’t it?
A more accurate description would be that the 5th largest state in the Union has the 4th highest expenditures for education.
Another of his favorite claims is that Illinois has one of the lowest state and local tax burdens in the nation when measured by percentage of personal income.
That, while true, is misleading.
Critics contend that taxation as a percentage of personal income skews tax burden numbers in favor of large states. Illinois has a large population with high wages, so it tends to look better from a low tax perspective when this number is used. California looks much more moderate when we discuss state and local taxes as percentage of personal income. That alone should tell us something.
The Tax Foundation which takes the broadest measures of income and taxes, places Illinois near the middle of the pack in taxes. But because middling states are very close to higher tax climates, Illinois is a tax increase away from being a high local and state tax state.
If we consider the total tax burden – state, local and federal – Illinois ranks 14th. Methodology is important as well because we need to know exactly what we are measuring and whether or not we have the right tool. Not a lot of discussion of that in the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability– just why theirs is the best.
If you live in Texas you pay $3,533 per capita in state and local taxes. There per capita state income is $38,005. In Illinois we pay $4,594 per capita for state and local taxes. Our per-capita state income $42,428. On that last $4,428 of per capita income Illinoisans are paying an extra $1061. The average Illinoisan works until May 2nd to pay off her tax burden. The average Texan works until April 19th.
Texas is a low tax state. Illinois is not.
Again, Mr. Martire is cherry picking and leading us to his preconceived conclusion – higher taxes. Scholars and the Tax Foundation can disagree on what measure to use when, because they have to show their math.
Mr. Martire doesn’t.
Finally, the states in the country and is somehow bereft of government help because it has a low number of state employees per capita lacks validity on its face. Any guess as to what these states have in common? They are the most populous states in the Union. Declaring that Illinois has the most efficient state government in the country and is somehow bereft of government help beause it has a low number of state employees per capita lacks validity on its face.
Wyoming and Hawaii are among the highest ratios. Dick Cheney’s Wyoming is night and day from Dan Inuoye’s Hawaii.
Rick Perry’s Texas is apples and oranges compared to Spitzer’s New York, when it comes to size and scope of government.
This statistic is a pure function of population. Is anyone going to really believe that New York and California – let alone Illinois – are libertarian utopias?
Well…maybe Ralph Martire might. .
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When he’s not writing for the Chicago Daily Observer, Greg Blankenship is President of the Illinois Policy Institute. He can be reached at greg@illinoispolicyinstitute.org
Note: Ralph Martire’s bi-weekly column starts soon in The Chicago Daily Observer where both he and Blankenship will joust frequently.
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According to the NCES this figure represents: “Total current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education, grades prekindergarten through grade 12, including ungraded students. Expenditures for equipment, non-public education, school construction, debt financing and community services are excluded from this data item. Expenditures by state governments for and on behalf of LEAs are included in these expenditures, and all other expenditures here. This is the sum of expenditures for Instruction, Support Services, and Non-instructional Services (excluding Community Services) and Direct Program Support (excluding Support for Private school Students), and excludes Property expenditures. These data are taken from the CCD National Public Education Financial Survey.”
According to the NCES definition of total education expenditures: “Total expenditures made by school districts, including total current expenditures, all property and equipment expenditures, school construction and facilities acquisition items, and expenditures for non-public elementary/secondary education programs such as community services, community colleges, adult education and private schools. Expenditures by state governments for and on behalf of LEAs are included in these expenditures. Expenditures for debt services (payments of interest and principal) are excluded. This does not include Other Uses. These data are taken from the CCD National Public Education Financial Survey.”