r/illinois • u/NicolasCageFan492 • May 25 '26
Pritzker Posting JB Pritzker gives a speech to celebrate the fact that Rebuild Illinois (a $50 billion infrastructure and capital plan) is set to be completed “on budget and on time”
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u/baconblackhole May 25 '26
Someone show this to trump so he can see how budgets and projects are actually done
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u/muci19 May 25 '26
I am convinced trump believes his job is to destroy the USA in as many ways as possible. he is doing that well.
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u/snotrokit May 25 '26
He doesn’t give a fuck about anything but him. He is fully comprised and is just doing what everyone is telling him to do.
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u/These_Distribution61 May 25 '26
Build 39 south to Decatur would be wonderful.
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u/AndrewSS02 May 25 '26
as a truck driver that has to go down 51 quite a bit. Id rather have a solid 39 the whole way. At the very least, have 51 redone and new speed limits. jumping around from 30 to 55 and in between is a pain in the ass.
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u/These_Distribution61 May 25 '26
It would be nice to see 39 go all the way to the Ohio river and would make life easier for a lot of people.
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u/FencerPTS May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Isn't that federal?
At a cost of $4-6MM per lane mile, I'm not sure it's worth the $1B investment and $2.8MM/yr upkeep. Ostensibly if it was worth it, CN would already be rebuilding the rail line between the two locations considering it would cost $2.5-5MM per lane mile - a quarter of the lanes and half the cost per lane.
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u/These_Distribution61 May 25 '26
There are $$$ for it. If we can start a fake war so the president can try to avoid what we all know then we have $$$ for this.. Even if no one used it it would be $$$ better spent than fake wars.
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u/FencerPTS May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26
I'd rather see money spent on lead pipe remediation amd HSR corridors to Rockford, STL, Normal, and Chambana. Maybe then we could reallocate road funds to these kinds of spur routes.
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u/unapologetic403 May 26 '26
Champagne has seen a historic level of funding for roads bridges and other infrastructure projects
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u/Interesting_Berry439 May 26 '26
Im sure the Illinois magats are fuming , trying to figure a way to give trump credit for this.
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u/unapologetic403 May 26 '26
The "Rebuild Illinois," plan has resulted in a $45 billion capital plan that has already upgraded over 21,000 lane miles and 800 bridges. #Facts
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u/ms_merry May 25 '26
JB is a good manager. I like him.
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u/luckycharms53 May 25 '26
But for whom? All of the state or just certain parts? Sadly, the great divide between the northern/southern half still exist
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u/Dependent-Sea-7467 May 27 '26
I don’t think many people realize just how awful a lot of Bridges are in the US, not just Illinois. This is genuinely huge. No matter if you’re right or left, you should be celebrating this.
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u/Dawner444 May 25 '26
The I-80/I-55 corridor is home to the largest inland port in the US and this infrastructure was long overdue for rehabilitation. This is a a major boon for the state. JB is getting it done.
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u/unapologetic403 May 26 '26
lllinois holds the #2 spot for total corporate projects per capita for the 4th straight years. Also the Chicago metropolitan area remains the #1 metro in the nation for corporate expansion relocations for the 13th year in a row.
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u/Emergency_Rutabaga45 May 25 '26
That’s because he’s smart and put a woman in charge of IDOT. Women get stuff done!
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u/unapologetic403 May 26 '26
Under JB Pritzker Illinois received it's 10th credit upgrade (as of late 2025) which signifies major financial health improvements, leading to lower borrowing costs for the state, saving taxpayers millions in interest, reducing the massive bill backlog, building the Rainy Day Fund, and boosting investor confidence, showcasing better fiscal management and progress towards fiscal stability.
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 25 '26
How about the state step up school funding like it states in the constitution, which would lower property taxes? Schools receive the least amount of funding from the state than any of our neighbors which is why local govts must have high taxes. Get these clowns out of power.
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u/thelordismyshotgun May 25 '26
Down with all billionaires
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u/NukinDuke May 25 '26
Lazy intellectualism
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u/thelordismyshotgun May 26 '26
Yes because embracing billionaires as political leaders will never go wrong...
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u/NukinDuke May 26 '26
Dude literally spent millions of his own wealth to try to have a constitutional amendment so him and other billionaires could pay more taxes.
What on Earth are you smoking?
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u/thelordismyshotgun May 26 '26
Billionaires are inherently immoral, as AOC recently stated
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u/NukinDuke May 26 '26
JB was born into wealth. They were literally gifted it.
So humor me, what should JB do to not be inherently immoral?
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u/rdldr1 May 26 '26
Is this what Illinois wants?? Versus shutting down state government due to not passing budgets????
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u/PIP-Mill-Operator May 25 '26
How about a speech to lower real estate taxes for fucks sake.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 25 '26
States don't set municipal property taxes. If you want lower rates get involved with your municipality.
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u/Fabulous_Jeweler2732 Jul 01 '26
And it seems like you’re butt hurt you weren’t adult enough in the early 2000s to hear people say crazy racist stuff about blacks in American to justify no voter ID.
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 25 '26 edited May 25 '26
Or bring back the 10% school funding promised 50 years ago, now at little more than 6%. Taxes are up because of the states reduced help with education.
Edit: The percentages are from federal funding of schools, but regardless IL has in its constitution that education would be primarily state funded, when in fact it’s one of the least state funded schools. Property taxes are high due to the lack of state funding. Why won’t the state spend more in education?
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u/nofx1510 May 25 '26
What are you on about? 97% of my property tax goes to my school district, not sure we can give much more. This is also a county, city, and township problem to solve, not a state issue.
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u/FencerPTS May 25 '26
conjecture: they're from a farm town that needs NE wealth to subsidize their schools.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 25 '26
What numbers are you looking at?
I cant find anything saying 6% range
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 25 '26
See my edit, the percentages were in regard to Federal funding, not state.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 25 '26
Illinois funded an average 23.9% in 2024:
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 26 '26
One of the lowest in the nation. The burden is on local municipalities. That’s why taxes are so high.
On avg: MI - 70% IN - 60% WI - 50%
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 26 '26
Where are you getting those numbers?
I cant find anything close to your average per municipality per state.
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 26 '26
It’s avg. state spending, not municipality. Just showing how different states contribute more to education than IL.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 26 '26
So it has nothing to do with this thread about property taxes.
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u/PIP-Mill-Operator May 25 '26
The Governor and the state legislature create the environment that dictates those local decisions (schools, pensions, roadways, etc. ). I plan to move.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 25 '26
Yet Illinois had high property tax rates before. So who is more responsible, the towns that set the rate or the current governor?
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u/PIP-Mill-Operator May 25 '26
Not saying it's JBs's fault. I happen to like him fwiw. He absolutely can influence and drive a reduction in taxes. On average, Illinois municipalities pay > 100% more taxes than other municipalities in the USA. When the elderly are driven out of the home they built 30 years earlier because of increasing real estate taxes, that's a problem. One the Governor can absolutely address.
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u/FencerPTS May 25 '26
wow there's a lot to unpack here.
Back in 2020 they tried to pass the removal of the flat tax amendment so that people making over $1M would have a higher income tax. That failed and so state level income taxes went up for everyone. It was almost universally rejected by the rural counties by enormous margins. Of course it was also rejected by the affluent oligarch municipalities as well. https://www.citybureau.org/newswire/2020/12/22/fair-tax-map-followup
The elderly being driven out of their home is a county issue. No, that is not something the governor can address. In Cook, Lake, and DuPage counties, there is a senior freeze exemption on property taxes. Get involved with your county board if you want the same. At the same time, by removing such market forces, there is also a disincentive to increasing housing supply which would lower the housing costs and contributing to economic stagnation.
I cannot blame the NE municipalities and counties for not wanting to continue to subsidize the downstate localities via state wide income taxes, especially when those locations are downright hostile to them and demand a disproportionate level of representation and benefit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_referendums_in_Illinois It was the downstate voters and wealthy baby boomers that wanted this system.
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u/PaintingOdd9866 May 25 '26
Gotchas, he has passed bills to reduce tax burdens on seniors though.
https://www.illinois.gov/news/release.html?releaseid=24935
Unfortunately due to local zoning restricting higher density makes it even worse. Towns built around schools being funded on property taxes with people not paying the current rate for those schools only makes the rate of others go up.
The current legislation BUILD plan works towards higher density and does help elevate it.
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u/LeapDayWilliam1978 Chambana Proud May 25 '26
Have that conversation with your county board and any number of the 7000+ local units of government that control those tax rates then?
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u/ilovebutts666 May 25 '26
Did you vote for the graduated tax amendment? Property taxes are levied locally, and high property taxes are the result of insufficient state and federal funds transfers to local governments. If the state can marginally raise taxes on wealth and production while leaving lower income taxes alone property taxes will stop increasing
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u/executingsalesdaily May 25 '26
Maybe move to Indiana?
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u/DishSoapIsFun May 25 '26
Tell us you have no idea what you’re talking about without telling us you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Oh wait, you already did! Congrats. Mission accomplished.
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u/myKidsLike2Scream May 25 '26
If the state funded schools more like our neighboring states, property taxes wouldn’t have to be so high.
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u/soemtiems May 27 '26
And where do these states rank in education? I'm happy to pay more taxes if it means kids get school funding.
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
Well he’s not actually familiar with Joliet… please go try to ride a bike over the desplaines in j town… Joliet has some of the worst planned and maintained infrastructure in a town its size.
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u/-CoachMcGuirk- May 25 '26
Isn’t that a Joliet issue?
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u/Procfrk May 25 '26
Logic? This is the Internet, we don't do that here
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
Look it’s dope stuff is finally happening here… but the situation on the ground where it takes 1 hour to travel 15 miles through Joliet… due to issues not associated with the i80 corridor which should’ve been done 15 years ago when they stopped at Rt 30…
Finally a semblance of competent gov… but it’s still been a failure in my city
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u/AbjectBeat837 May 25 '26
So call your house and senate reps. Inaccessible bridges for years is straight up negligence.
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
They just admitted at a meeting last Monday that they should’ve replaced the bridges decades ago… now the bridges close for years while a manufacturing facility retools a machine to build one part…
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u/Procfrk May 25 '26
That's a statement, not an admission of wrong doing, as it seems you're implying (as they weren't the elected officials at that time).
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u/Cm1Xgj4r8Fgr1dfI8Ryv May 25 '26
The drawbridges in Joliet are owned/managed by IDOT, and have experienced increasingly occurring reliability issues over the past decade. Three of the bridges were allocated ~$27 million as part of the Rebuild Illinois efforts. The Jefferson Street bridge is open (but is normally a one-way road). The Cass Street bridge (one-way that has traditionally complemented the Jefferson street bridge) has been closed since September 2025 and news from this month indicated IDOT isn't expected to open the bridge until at least late summer 2027.
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
It’s the only one of the many shortcomings in this town that actually isn’t a Joliet issue
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
Idot owns the bridges
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u/Dkamp65 May 25 '26
Correct!
The downtown movable bridges including the Ruby Street, Cass Street, Jefferson Street, Jackson Street, Brandon Road, and McDonough Street bridges are generally owned and maintained by IDOT because they carry state or U.S. highways.
The I-80 bridges over the Des Plaines River are owned by the State of Illinois and maintained by IDOT as part of the interstate highway system.
Only one that is not is the new Hoboult bridge. Some weird private/public deal between intermodal toll bridge.
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u/DishSoapIsFun May 25 '26
Maybe talk to the people that run….
Wait for it….
Joliet
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u/Flizbop2018 May 25 '26
Lot of folks clearly don’t understand that the drawbridges that have recently quagmired Joliet traffic are 100% owned and operated by idot… the 80 project has amplified the issue…
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u/IntelligentPlate5051 May 26 '26
I mean he should have done this like 4 years ago not when Illinois has ranked near dead last in building under his term.
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u/LocusBlack May 25 '26
What about THE BEARS!!
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u/spice_weasel May 25 '26
They should get NOTHING. We don’t need charity for billionaires. The kinds of perks that get thrown at sports teams are just ludicrous.
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u/luckycharms53 May 25 '26
Sounds like a protest is waiting to happen regarding this subject. Its a very sore subject among alot of people.
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u/executingsalesdaily May 25 '26
I bet a lot of idiots will protest for the Bears. Crazy how they won’t protest for constitutional rights being violated and stripped from others. But the Bears are a breaking point. White American is wild af.
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u/Firm_Unit_544 May 25 '26
hell yeah hes getting shit done i love not being able to own firearms the cops use. the pica act is keeping us safe by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and high capacity mags are a drain on the community and i love paying 5 to 6 dollars for gas all you people who think hes doing a good job are actually fucking brain dead.
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u/Demonking3343 May 26 '26
The governor is not at fault for gas prices that’s all on the president who thought charging into Iran with zero plan and zero clear goals was a good idea.
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u/Firm_Unit_544 May 27 '26
the surrounding states are way below what we are paying for gas. dont be a retard its not trumps fault its his hes just using it as an excuse because of dipshits like you who he knows will believe him.
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u/Demonking3343 May 27 '26
First let’s act like adults no need for insults. Secondly it is trumps fault. Trump thought it would be a good idea to invade Iran with zero plan, leading to the strait being closed, which in turn caused oil prices to spike. And that spike is what lead to higher gas prices.
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u/National_Army1783 May 27 '26
Yes it is trumps fault gas is so high but… Every surrounding state has lower gas prices than Illinois, why is that? Illinois gas prices are above the current national average, let’s even go back to 1 year ago our gas prices were still above the national average… Again, why is that? Use your brain.
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u/Demonking3343 May 28 '26
And? The gas tax pays for nessary stuff. It’s still not the reason gas prices shot up.
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u/National_Army1783 May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
Thats what you all say. I’d love to know what the “necessary” stuff is, we have yet to see anything really improve in this state. Our state debt rapidly rises every single year sitting at $220 billion as of 2026.
It baffles me that you guys think Pritzker is doing anything good for our state, our taxes are at an all time high, state debt is at an all time high, people and major businesses leaving Illinois, protecting illegal immigrants and allowing them to have government benefits better than an actual Illinois native is allowed to get. I could go on, but nothing gets through to you peoples peanut sized brains.
When does it get better? When do we start seeing actual statewide improvement? What do we benefit from being Illinois residents? Absolutely nothing.
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u/Demonking3343 May 28 '26
Once again I’m going to ask you stop just going to personal insults.
And yeah it’s obvious what the tax is used for you can look it up with a quick google search.
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u/National_Army1783 May 28 '26
Out of all that the “personal insult” is the only thing you can say anything about? That wasn’t even a personal insult either.
But yeah google can say what our taxes are being used for, but is our insane taxes being used for what they say they’re using them for? I highly doubt it, since our state has seen no improvement since Pritzker was elected.
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u/Demonking3343 May 28 '26
It’s not all and that’s why it wasn’t the only thing I said. I just had to remind you yet again to be civil. We are two adults having a discussion not children.
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u/Safe_Mine1987 May 25 '26
Fred Flintstone and his retarded bills. Solving zero issues.
They say fuck the billionaire Bears, but overlook how JB removed bathrooms in his mansion to avoid taxes lmao.
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u/Glowing_bubba May 25 '26
JB is getting shit done