Out Of Control been on a sharp–and unaffordable–upward

curve.
The explosion of Illinois state TABLE 3- Illinois Population Growth
government spending 1998 Population 2008 Population
12,069,774 12,901,563
The Problem Source: U.S. Census 1998, 2008
State spending in Illinois has skyrocketed over
the past decade, increasing 39 percent from TABLE 4- Illinois Per Capita Spending
1998 to 2008 (after inflation).
1998 Spending Per Capita 2008 Spending Per Capita
$3,553.21 $4,604.37
TABLE I- Total State Appropriated Funds
Expenditures (1998 to 2008) Source: Illinois State Comptroller
Note: 1998 Spending Per-Capita has been adjusted for inflation
General Lapse Period Total
Expenditures Expenditures
August 21, 2009

The Solution
1998 $30,885,414,582.79 $1,598,267,786.42 $32,483,682,369.21
Over-spending isn’t a problem that is going
1998 Riverside (Cook) Oak Brook $42,886,432,183.15
(Adj.) (DuPage)
away by itself. In fiscal year 2009, Illinois spent
2008 $56,847,210,693.31 $2,556,327,780.01 $59,403,538,473.32
$4.3 billion more out of the general fund than
Spending growth (1998 adjusted to 2008) 39%
it brought in from revenues. Without a restraint
mechanism in place, most politicians will be
Source: Illinois State Comptroller, Traditional Budgetary Financial Reports inclined spend every available dime, regardless
1998, 2008 of whether or population growth even warrants
Note: Inflation calculated with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’s
Consumer Price Index calculator it. It’s time to put government on a diet.

How can this be done? With an expenditure

“Appropriated Funds Expenditures” include limit that would cap state spending at last
general, highway, special state, bond financed, year’s budget multiplied by the previous year’s
Policy•Point

debt service, federal trust, revolving funds, and combined percentage rate of inflation and
state trust funds. population growth.

TABLE 2- What’s Included In

Why This Works
“Appropriated Funds Expenditures” A sensible expenditure limit would ensure
that state spending doesn’t grow beyond
Breakdown (millions) 1998 2008 taxpayers’ ability to pay for it. This spending
General Funds $17,904 $27,158 “brake” still allows government to grow, but
Highway Funds $2,531 $3,622 it prevents it from speeding dangerously out
Special State Funds $6,927 $15,098 of control. Instead of reaching ever deeper
Bond Financed Funds $538 $286 into the taxpayer’s wallet, government will be
Debt Service Funds $1,035 $4,452 encouraged to focus on internal efficiencies and
Federal Trust Funds $237 $667 innovations to improve and expand services.
State Trust Funds $931 $3,329
$32,484 $59,403
If Illinois had enacted an expenditure limit
in 2004 that limited spending growth to
Source: Illinois State Comptroller population plus inflation, the state could have
cumulatively saved $13.7 billion over the past
Illinois’s population growth has been minimal, six years. That’s money that could have been
increasing just under 7 percent between 1998 put in a rainy day fund, applied toward the
and 2008. Population growth has been limited, unfunded public employee pension liabilities, or
but not so with per capita spending. In 1998, even refunded to taxpayers.
state spending per resident was $3,500. Ten
years later, state spending per resident was
$4,600 (inflation adjusted). Government
spending growth on a per-person basis has Learn more at illinoispolicyinstitute.org.