Sandack Releases Results of 2014 Legislative Survey

State Representative Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove) has released the results of his 2014 Legislative Survey.

In July, Sandack mailed the survey to approximately 36,000 District 81 households as part of his 2014 End of Session Report. An online version of the survey was also posted on his web site.

“The results of the survey fell right in line with the types of comments I hear every day from the people I represent,” said Sandack. “They are fed up with the Democrat leaders’ tax-and-spend policies and want the state to quit spending money it doesn’t have and start living within its means.”

The survey asked three multiple choice questions and also provided people with an opportunity to list the three top issues that were most important to them. For the first question, which was “Do you support rolling back the 67% temporary income tax increase, even if it means a reduction in some state services?,” 71.47% of the respondents answered “yes.” For that question, 24.86% of the respondents said “no” and 3.67% said they were undecided.

The second question posed to residents was “Do you support the use of $100 million in IL taxpayer dollars to help build the Obama Presidential Library in Chicago, IL?” Only 9.3% of the respondents supported using taxpayer funds to offset the cost of the library, while an overwhelming 85.63% of respondents answered “no” to using taxpayer funds for the Obama library. For this question 5.07% of those who responded said they were undecided.

The final survey question read “As property taxes continue to increase even while property values decrease or remain stagnant, do you support putting additional taxpayer protections in place that would freeze property taxes even if those freezes would create a hardship for schools and other service providers?” According to the results, 65.82% of the respondents said “yes” to the need for additional property tax protections, while 22.32% answered “no” and 11.86% answered that they were not sure.

“I have been an outspoken opponent to any extension of the 67% temporary income tax and the results of this survey validate those convictions,” said Sandack. “I am also already on record as opposing the use of taxpayer funds to lure the Obama Library to Illinois and have sponsored multiple pieces of legislation to freeze property taxes during years when property values are falling.”

In the open-ended response section, the top issue of importance to those who took the survey was taxes or over-taxation, with state finances/budgeting coming in second and the need for comprehensive and legally-sound pension reform coming in third. The need for term limits and fair legislative maps came in fourth and fifth, respectively.

“I appreciate everyone who took the time to respond to my legislative survey, and feel I have solid marching orders for when I return to Springfield,” Sandack said.

To view pie charts illustrating the survey results, please visit http://www.ronsandack.org/sandack_releases_results_of_2014_legislative_survey.