West Cook News

As inflation rises to its highest level in more than 40 years, Village of Oak Park Trustee Jim Dodge commented on what continuing inflation could mean for Illinois families. 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) summary on July 13. It reported that costs have risen 9.1% in the last year, while the cost of energy increased by 7.5%, gas prices rose 11.2% and the cost of food increased by 1% in the last month. The cost of gas rose by 59.9% in the last year, while food prices have increased by 10.4%.

"Inflation like this is generally bad, especially when you consider that this was created by federal government policy," Dodge said to West Cook News. "The thing is the state revenues aren’t going up fast enough to keep up with costs. If the state decides the only thing it can do to deal with the increase in cost is raise taxes, things will only get worse. People will be wondering why stay here at all."

Dodge thinks it's likely that Illinois residents will not only have to endure rising inflation, but they may also have to face higher taxes. 

"Something has to give if cost of providing services is going up, you have to look at increasing revenue or cutting services. Knowing government’s appetite for more, the first think they will think of is more taxes," he said.

When asked about the effects of inflation on his constituents, Dodge said, "Absolutely, you see people changing their behaviors on everything from driving to spending habits. The first thing most people do when you have such high inflation is cut back on discretionary spending." 

Business owners, facing increased costs in supplies, shipping and other expenditures, could be forced to cut jobs, The Center Square said in a recent release. Todd Maisch, CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, said, "the question for policy makers in Illinois" is whether they are going to raise taxes because of inflation, "or are we going to weather the storm and show that government can be on sound fiscal footing."

Illinoisans are paying an average of $4,386 more in 2022 due to price increases than they paid in 2021 for the same goods and services, a report from Illinois Policy said. The average Illinois resident will pay an extra $1,122 for gas this year, while also spending an additional $504 on groceries and $280 for utilities. These extra costs mean many people will dip into their savings and skip some recreational activities.