Could corruption be the reason for high taxes? Or do Illinoisans pay a "corruption tax?" AP analyzes:
People pay the tax when politicians give government jobs to unqualified cronies and contracts to expense-padding donors. They pay when public employees take bribes to overlook violations, when law enforcement spends millions prosecuting crooked politicians and when people are injured because of government misconduct.
"It means hundreds of millions of dollars lost in waste," said Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman and head of political science at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
Every state has its share of bad apples, but Illinois is notoriously corrupt. Residents and politicians sometimes seem to embrace the state's "anything goes" culture.
All together, 1,000 public officials and businessmen have been convicted of public corruption in Illinois since 1970, Simpson found. That includes 19 Cook County judges, 30 Chicago aldermen, two members of Congress and two governors — plus another imprisoned for crimes unrelated to state government.
What a disgrace.
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It makes me wish, that I lived in
ReplyDeleteanother state.
The corruption tax is heavy in Chicago, when you look at all of the new residential construction you can be assured that behind the facade are buildings that do not make code.
ReplyDeleteInspectors were bribed so now Chicagoans need to tuckpoint and rewire new buildings. From the lack of flashing to illegal brickwork to the lack of ground wires, corrupt Democratic inspectors working for the corrupt City Government of Chicago signed off on all of it.
If you have friends living in new construction from this decade, ask them and you will likely hear those stories.