These shrinking paychecks have been driven by a number of factors, including state policies that smother entrepreneurs, a regulatory environment that strangles businesses, Illinois’ culture of cronyism and overall high taxation.

In addition, Illinois’ out-migration crisis is magnitudes greater than Iowa’s, as Iowa has turned the corner and is stemming its annual loss of residents to other states.

Illinois, on the other hand, leads the Midwest in exporting talent, accounting for a net loss of 50,000 Illinoisans and $2 billion worth of income in 2010 alone.

The average Illinoisan who leaves the state makes about $8,700 more than the average person who enters into the state, and about $9,300 more than the state median income, causing the state’s middle income to slip lower and lower.

As recently as 1990, Illinois had the highest median household income of the 12 states in the Midwest. Now Illinoisans have fallen to sixth, with Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wisconsin moving ahead.

Illinois’ tax-and-spend policies, cronyism and dystopian regulation do not serve the middle class. An economic agenda that would serve the middle class would include:

• A bill of rights for entrepreneurs complete with lower startup costs, a lessened burden of occupational licensingby allowing low-income entrepreneurs to self-certify, shortened wait times and new and innovative forms of investment
• Eliminating the income tax and transitioning to consumption taxes
• Repealing taxes that cause more economic harm than they collect in revenue, including the death tax and franchise tax
• Reforming employer liability laws such as workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance