The problem isn’t even the current taxes in Illinois, the problem is what is coming. The State is in a death spiral where government employee legacy costs are going skyward as baby boomers retire, causing both increased taxes and decreased services as a greater and greater percentage of the tax base must go to pay the pensions of these retiring government workers who - like everybody else - are themselves splitting to tax havens in Florida if they can and neighboring states if they are too tied to the local area by relatives or spousal jobs.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/pritzkers-tax-plan-would-worsen-illinois-people-problem/
https://www.governing.com/topics/finance/sl-illinois-sees-population-decline.html
https://wirepoints.org/illinois-shri...ration-part-3/
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/repor...s-in-illinois/
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/html-page/848696
currently, you can be one of the 12.75 million people (and dropping) that will wind up paying that public pension debt of $135- 209 BILLION (and still going up) or you can be one of the ones who gets out early, before property values crater like they did in Detroit, or you can be one of the ones who eventually pays that bill, and trust me, as an airline pilot you will be paying far more than just your own per capita share which would still be a couple hundred thousand dollars a head.
You gotta do what you gotta do, but staying in Illinois is going to cost you AT LEAST a million dollars. Not saying your wife isn’t worth a million dollars mind you, but if she is could you maybe post some pictures...
Addendum:
Illinoisans are still paying the second-highest property taxes in the nation, according to a recent study.
In an annual analysis of the property taxes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, finance website WalletHub placed the Land of Lincoln at 50 out of 51. This is the second year in a row the study ranked Illinois’ property taxes second-highest in the nation. New Jersey took the top spot both years.
The average U.S. household pays $2,279 in property taxes each year on a home valued at $193,500, the nation’s median. But Illinois homeowners pay nearly double that amount, at $4,476, for an identically priced home. The median home value in Illinois is $179,700, lower than the nation’s median. Still, Illinois homeowners average $4,157 in property taxes on that home.