Illinois hasn’t had a budget in two years. And it’s been more than 15 years since the state had a balanced budget. But lawmakers – who are currently on a two-week spring break – continue to be paid.
While Chicago-area taxpayers struggle under a heavy tax burden, lawmakers – who continue to ignore reforms the state desperately needs – are now on a two-week vacation.
About two-thirds of state revenue comes from income and sales taxes.
Chicagoans have been burdened with a slew of new taxes and the full damage has yet to be felt. A state income tax hike, like the one proposed in the Illinois Senate’s so-called “grand bargain,” would only further harm struggling Chicagoans.
Senate Bill 9 would apply a 6.25 percent sales tax to laundry, dry cleaning, storage units and parking garages, among other services.
Local state Reps. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, and Daniel Beiser, D-Alton, are still getting paid even though the state still does not have a balanced budget.
Illinois politicians are once again eyeing a “temporary” tax increase, and residents should be wary. History shows Illinois politicians favor tax hikes over spending reform, and the Tollway and 2011 income tax battle offer examples of the dangers taxpayers face when politicians toy with a temporary tax hike.
The latest report from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability shows Illinois experienced falling tax collections, indicating trouble in the state economy. Spending reforms – not tax hikes – are what Illinois needs to right its fiscal ship and boost economic growth.
Though the median household income in Belleville is only $43,318, Belleville Township School District 201’s top administrators are making six-figure salaries.
House Speaker Mike Madigan and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin used shell bills to avoid the March 31 deadline for bills to pass out of committee. Madigan passed 936 shell bills. Durkin passed 528. Meanwhile, thousands of substantive bills died without so much as a committee hearing.
Rank-and-file lawmakers have received paychecks of more than $50,800.
SB 9 is part of the package of bills that make up the Senate “grand bargain,” which would have hiked taxes by $7 billion.
Though Illinois lawmakers leave without addressing the current fiscal impasse, it’s been 16 years since the General Assembly last balanced the budget.
Despite being sold as property tax “relief,” new legislation in Springfield would only shift property tax burdens on to certain taxpayers, while complicating an already confusing property tax system.