Posted by catching12 on May 14, 2011, 11:21 am, in reply to "Re: gas tax"
Metal, I don't need a very small point example to try to make a point. Let's use statewide statistics...
GDP per capita...
Illinois: $41,439.21 (13th in nation) Alabama: $30,394 (45th in nation)
Median household income...
Illinois: $48,953 (12th in nation) Alabama: $36,709 (43rd in nation)
Average taxes per capita...
Illinois: $2,005 (25th in nation) Alabama: $1,550 (46th in nation)
And just for giggles, lets look at the level of advanced education...
Percentage of population with Bachelor's degree or higher...
Illinois: 27.4% (19th in nation) Alabama: 22.3% (46th in nation)
*All data provided by the BEA, BLA, and Census Bureau, with reference in statemaster.com.
So as you can see Metal, I'd prefer we deal with concrete numbers, not perception, opinion, or insignificant example.
Clearly, Illinois out-paces Alabama on a wide range of stats, including countless that I don't have the time to post. Hell, even with the relatively small difference in tax burden, we still out-pace them by far in terms of median income. This general trend in not exclusive to Illinois, most of the Midwestern states and nearly all of the Northeastern states post superior stats on everything from economics, education, and general intelligence.
on May 14, 2011, 11:21 am, in reply to "